Elementalists
by Ammirra
Summary: Ammirra is an extremely powerful Shaman from a very long time ago. For those of u who want it in relative terms, before Hao's first life. She meets other Shaman who have potential to become 'Elemental Shamans'. HaoxOC, HorroxOC, and possibly others...
1. Chapter 1

Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman King but I do Own my characters and this story!

A/N:This is my first fanfic so i hope u enjoy. the first chappie may not sound much like shaman king at first but bear with me here. no flamming pleaz.

Summary: Ammirra is a very powerful Shaman a very, Very long time ago. For those of u who want it in relative terms, before Hao's first life. She meets other Shamans who have potential to become 'Elemental Shamans'. Unfortunatly for each Elemental Shaman there is a dark double. These Shaman must face their dark doubles...and live too. I know i suck at summaries but it's better than it sounds so pleaz r&r. Thanx and bu bye.

Rating: M. rated for coarse language and violence

_**Elementalists**_

**Chapter 1.**

_**Home**_

The girl stared at the mountains. Looking up, trying to make out their distant peaks, she smiled softly to herself. Standing somewhere in a large dessert these tall mountains stayed hidden from the world. She stood bellow them, along the bank of a fast running river, where sand turned to rock. There was a slight breeze here, and listening to the water, she enjoyed its cool touch on her fair skin. She closed her eyes and sighed, _it has been so long since last I set eyes on this place, to long, _she thought to herself.

Now if you had heard her think this then you would have been surprised, she looked really young, she couldn't be older than five. Yet there was extreme wisdom in her eyes as she opened them to stare once more at the mountains. The wind switched its direction now, blowing her aqua bangs in her eyes. She pushed her bangs out of her eyes and tightened the white ribbon she used to keep her hair up. Tied up her aqua hair reached three inches below her shoulders, her bangs where shorter then shoulder length, reaching to just below her chin. She turned her grey eyes to her left, and started walking along the base of the mountains, leaving the river behind.

She walked along the base of the mountains, casually searching, and inspecting them. It hadn't changed at all, everything was how she had remembered it, and so she knew it would be around here. _There it is, the contraption that brought my grandparents over these mountains, _she thought as she spotted the wooden compartment that was attached to some ropes. It was attatched in such a fashion that you could easily pull your self up to a ridge about half way up. From there it would be an easy walk to the other side. _Its hard to believe those ancients could come up with this, its way ahead of their time, _she thought while chuckling to herself. Of course she didn't need to use it to get to that ridge she could get there much quicker.

She bent her knees slightly and jumped, using only a minute amount of furyoku. She landed gracefully, her knee high blue boots landing on the ledge without incident. Once again a soft smile found its way to her lips, _to easy, _she thought. Then she started walking up the ridge her figure nothing but an aqua spot on the side of the mountains. She stopped for a moment to adjust her fingerless white glove. She wore mostly blues, greens, or whites, but it always depended on her mood. Slowly she continued on her way to the other side, and what lay beyond.

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Meanwhile, somewhere in Japan an old man was training his grandson for the shaman fight that would take place in eight years.

" Yoh! Can't you even summon a simple earth spirit!" The old man, Yohemei, scolded the young boy.

"No, grandpa. I just can't do it, and I don't wanna learn how!" Complained Yoh, "I'm sick of this stupid training!"

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Back on the mountain the girl had now reached the other side and now stood by a similar contraption as the one that was found at the base of the mountains, only this one was designed to bring you down to the valley below. Once again she chuckled, and then looked down on the valley below her. She was surprised to see how little it had changed, the only real difference was that the bronze bush with its silver barriers was now a giant silver tree with golden apples. Looking at the valley she thought back to the last time she had stood there, so very long ago…

_**Flashback:**_

_The twelve-year-old girl stared at the man kneeling in front of her, "What is it?" she asked, brushing her aqua bangs out of her grey eyes. She looked at him calmly and waited for his response._

"_Lady Ammirra, why do you have to leave?"_

"_Why? Because there is something that needs to be done, but I will return, though not in your life, or your children's. Probably not even your grand or great grand children's life." She told him, her voice calm, and decisive._

"_M'lady!" he said shocked. Ammirra just stared at the young man, who was probably nineteen or so. "Alright, M'lady, we of the valley, and all of our descendents will wait for your return," he said bowing his head to Ammirra._

"_Good, I am off," and with that she jumped onto her oversoul and left._

_**End Flashback**_

Ammirra smiled to herself again, she had finally made it back

"I'm home," she whispered to herself, and then jumped down to the valley. _Home, after a thousand years I have finally made it back._

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A/N: kk, this is kinda short but it will be longer. and i'd like to say thanks to my editor. gives hiks a big hug so if u have any problems with the grammer, take it up with her. She also has a story, but it's with Danny Phantom. She would appriciate it if u'd r&r hers too. her user name is blkdragonrider92. thanx and hope you enjoyed. Je ne.


	2. Chapter 2

**Disclaimer: I do not own shaman king, I only own my own characters and the plot.**

A/N: Thank fur all the reviews on the first chappie! Hope u enjoy the second chappie

**Chapter 2**  
**_Apprentice_**

"Who are you, and what do you want in our peaceful valley!" Ammirra heard a man's voice demand to her left. She looked out of the corner of her eye to see a man in his mid twenties with fire red short hair. With his eyes, that in the moonlight seemed redder than his hair, he was scowling at her. _At least I know he is no human_, Ammirra thought, _not with those eyes_. That soft smile of hers crept upon her face again as she turned her face to look casually at him. He gasped in surprise, "A…A Child! But how would a child get over the mountains without assistance?" He was staring at her with a surprised, and confused look now. Ammirra chuckled under her breath as she raised her head, so her grey eyes met his.

When he saw her eyes he could not speak, he only mouthed the words, **_can't be,_** as he tried to avert his gaze. Ammirra simply stated, " And why not?" Once again the man was speechless so, being the curious person she was, Ammirra concentrated on his mind. _She is to young to be such a powerful shaman, but she was young a thousand years ago too, not that young, if your reincarnated your body has to start_ _as a baby…_ Ammirra heard his confused thoughts easily enough. She couldn't help but laugh. Her sweet young voice rose with laughter that seemed to spread across the whole valley in clear tones. It lasted for more than five minutes before she finally got control of herself again. He only stared.

Then Ammirra could hear other people coming. They were coming form behind the man and she could make out voices. Some were yelling things like " IF THAT WAS 'HER' THAN WE MUST KILL THEM! WE DON'T NEED 'HER' INFLUENCE HERE!" or " THEY WILL BRING DESTRUCTION TO OUR VALLEY, DOWN WITH AMMIRRA!". Others shouted support to her " SHE WILL SAVE OUR PLANET, AND OUR HOMES!", " AMMIRRA-SAMA HAS FINALLY RETURNED! SHE WILL PROTECT OUR WORLD!" or " LADY AMMIRRA WILL CLEAR THIS PLANET OF THOSE FIENDS, THOSE HUMANS!". Then there where people yelling things like, "AMMIRRA IS A SAVIOR, SHE WILL FIND A WAY TO LET US LIVE IN PEACE!", " 'SHE' CAN NOT ENTER, 'SHE' WILL RIUN BALANCE" or " WHAT IF ITS NOT 'HER'!" Ammirra started to laugh again, but silently to herself this time.

She then saw the wavering light of torches, flitting between the trees in the night. The man still stared, not at her though, but at the forest around the base of the mountains. Dark figures now emerged from the forest, and the two could catch glimpses of faces in the light of the torches. There were at least one hundred of them heading slowly towards them. _Are they all shamans, _she wondered, _no, not all of them are. _This disgusted Ammirra, when last she was here all the inhabitants could at least see spirits, and in her opinion, that meant they could probably become shamans. Yet now her home had 'humans' living in its walls, she could not tolerate them. Normally she left them alone to destroy themselves, but if they had settled in her valley they would have to suffer. They would have to die.

Somehow she kept her rage under control. Ammirra turned back to the man, and they're eyes once again met. This time he did not try to look away, so she asked him in a calm voice, "Why… why are there 'Humans' in the valley?"

At first it seemed that he would not answer her but, "Some of our people lost faith in you, Ammirra-sama, they… they did not believe you would return to our valley…" he said, hesitantly.

"Go on," She encouraged, the mass of bodies coming closer ever second.

"They began to lose sight of our ideals, began to believe that they were… wrong. Many of them took pity on the 'humans' forced to try and live in the harsh desert… so they brought them here," he explained, then added, "Ammirra-sama". She stared at him for a moment, "I se-," but she was interrupted.

One of the crowd coming towards them had ran ahead of the others and shouted at the two. "Sorry to interrupt your conversation, but if the girl really is lady Ammirra, I suggest you get in front of her Jitien," the voice was old, "some in that crowd would wish to do her harm, and we cannot afford her to be injure-," he was then interrupted.

"Are you suggesting I can't take care of myself," Ammirra demanded, annoyed now. If it had not been so dark you would have noticed a slight change in her hair, it got darker. " I can handle, traitors and 'humans' on my on thanks."

"I do not mean to doubt you Ammirra-sama, but how do you intend to handle the 'traitors' without harming your loyal followers," the man, Jitien, asked.

"First," she replied, voice calm, " I will make an example with the 'humans', then any body who still wishes to deny me will have one chance to get out of MY valley, before they follow the 'humans' to hell…". The crowd then reached them. The old man and Jitien immediately place themselves between the mob and Ammirra. "Move," she commanded in a low, but authorative whisper. They stayed where they were, and Ammirra almost lost it. "I said MOVE!" she repeated, and they hesitantly backed out of her way. "Good, now I can take care of 'them'," she said, staring at the mob. She pinpointed all of the 'humans' and readied her self to kill them.

"A child, the great Ammirra is a CHILD!" she heard a member of the crowd say.

"I wouldn't call her that if I were you," Jitien said, "you will only get Ammirra-sama angry-," he never finished.

"Angry," she exploded, " I was angry the moment I found out that there were fucking 'HUMANS' in MY valley, Now you'll all be lucky if any of you disloyal fuck faces live to see another day!" Coming from a child this manner of language shocked the crowd. All the shaman who had lost faith, along with all the 'humans' took a step back. The loyal shaman stepped to the side, leaving a clear path for her to strike.

The man who had spoke before now spoke again, "Ooo, I'm so scared, the little baby has learned some foul words, do you even understand half of what your saying you little brat," he taunted. Now he had taken it to far. Furious, Ammirra used her furyoku to control one of her elements….

_**Ammirra's POV**_

_First I found out that there where 'Humans' in my valley. That by its self was bad enough, but then this guy has the nerve to taunt me, to call me a _brat_. I will not, shall not tolerate this anymore. I felt the wind pick up. Focussing my furyoku into the wind I prepared my attack. He will suffer…_

_End of Ammirra's Pov_

The wind picked up around Ammirra, and all those who knew what that meant backed away. Jitien stared in awe as the wind continued to speed up… then Ammirra, who had been looking down looked up…

_Jitien's POV_

_As Ammirra-sama looked up the wind around her broke into a violent storm, but I managed to catch a glimpse of her eyes… shivers ran down my spine. Her eyes were so cold; they looked like the eyes of a murder. Then she sent her attack at him. Blood splattered on her face as I watched Ammirra-sama's wind tear his arm off his body. The wind still blew furiously, and again Ammirra-sama attacked, ripping his leg of, and sending blood everywhere. Still the wind did not stop…_

"Now, listen, do you hear that? That is the winds wraith, and anyone who defies me will have to face it." _Ammirra-sama's calm voice sent more shivers down my spine. Then the man exploded and blood flew everywhere once more. I felt some splatter my face and clothes, disgustedly I wiped some from under my eye. Now the only thing that remained of the man was a pool of blood where he once stood…_

_End of Jitien's POV_

Everyone gasped as they witnessed the brutal death of the man. They all stared at the bloodstained Ammirra. Her once white glove and the white ribbon in her hair were now stained red. Though now the wind had slowed, it was still there, furiously blowing. "Now its is the 'Humans' time to die" she said in a dangerous whisper. At her words the wind once again picked up and all the 'humans' in the mob and the rest of the valley were slaughtered. Screams ran through the valley as they died, and the valley was covered with 'human blood'. Then Ammirra turned her eyes on the shaman. "Any of you," she spoke in a clear, emotionless voice, "who do not agree with me and wish to live another day, you have until dawn to get as far from here as you can…" She let her words trail off.

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Hao looked to his right through the desert. He had felt something familiar, but it was impossible…

_Hao's POV_

_I felt it, felt her power. But it's impossible, it can't be her. She died a thousand years ago, I had watched her die. But she told me that she had lived more than once. No, it can't be her; I did not feel her presence at all five hundred years ago, so how could she be alive now. But only her power can do that, send many violent storms like that. Either way I looked at it I came to the same conclusion… Ammirra, the girl who had taught me the secrets of reincarnation, and who had died from some disease a thousand years ago, a disease that sapped all your furyoku had some how been brought back. She had not had the power to do so when she had died, so somebody must have done so for her… but who. I have to know, had to know who had the power to reincarnate somebody else. The only one who could have such power was… the Great Spirit!_

_End of Hao's POV_

Hao continued to stare through the desert, as a single word escaped his lips, "Ammirra…"

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Ammirra stared at the gathering of shamans in front of her. They were now in the middle of the valley where an outdoor gathering place had been made. She counted the number of shamans who had gathered in the tree-lined square. There were around four hundred standing there, waiting for her to speak. Dawn was only an hour away now, and she was waiting for the five shamans she had sent to make sure the traitors left the valley. Among the shaman sent, was the man she first met in the valley, Jitien, or Jitien the fourth, as she now know was his name. He had a son who obviously was Jitien the fifth, he was her age, of her current bodies age, and was standing with ten other kids who were around his age. One of them, a little girl with blue hair, intrigued Ammirra. _She definitely has power… the power of the elements, _she thought to her self. _I should find out her name…and make her my apprentice, if I don't than 'they' will target her and she will not be ready to protect herself. _Ammirra started to walk towards the group of children, but then she remembered the blood on her clothes. She would have to change. She caught the first shaman that walked by, "Do you know were I can get a change of clothes and a bath?"

"Yes," the shaman was a female, "I'm sure my youngest daughter has something that will fit you perfectly." Ammirra nodded, and signalled for the women to lead the way. The women started toward the edge of the square. Ammirra noticed she had the same colour hair as the girl. _She must be her mother; the resemblance is_ _uncanny, _she thought.

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Ammirra walked back through the trees forty-five minutes later, her wet hair tied

up know by a green ribbon. She loved water, but that was expected since it was her second element. As far as she knew she was the only elemental shaman ever who could control two elements. That was how she had made the man explode, by controlling the water in his body. She sighed as she entered the square, and then the shamans she had sent earlier came up to her to make a report. "Well," she asked them.

Jitien IV spoke for them all, " They were all fleeing the valley Ammirra-sama".

"Good". She than turned to the east to view the top of the sun rising above the mountains. She then turned to the assembly of shamans. " Now that the sun has began to rise…", her speech went on for ten minutes, and then she told them all to go back to their homes.

"Lady Ammirra," the woman from before came up to her, " would u like to stay at our place? I can prepare a nice bed for you, milady"

"That would be nice… until that is, I have my old place ready for me to move back in."

"I will immediately prepare your accommodations, milady," she bowed and hurried off toward her home. Then the little girl came up to her.

" Are you going to be staying at my house Ammirra-sama," the little one asked, her pale baby blue eyes meeting Ammirra's grey ones.

"Yes I will be staying at your house for awhile," Ammirra answered the girl. "So tell me, what is your name?"

"My Name is Hikyrrou," replied the girl, Hikyrrou, "And I'm so glad you'll be staying with us, Ammirra-sama, cause now my brother and sister won't pick on me!"

Ammirra chuckled to her self, " No they won't, especially since I want, you to be my apprentice Hikyrrou," she explained to her.

"What! Me," Hikyrrou's eyes shown in awe.

"Yes you. Will you become my apprentice Hikyrrou?"

"HIA! Ammirra-sensei!"

A/N: WOW! That took me longer than I expected. I didn't intend to make this chappie so long, I just got really really into it. ;;

Hope u enjoyed it and please review!


	3. Chapter 3

Yay! Finished the third chapter. This one took me a little longer, I kinda had some writers block at the beginning, and then, just my luck, at the end. ARRGH! It was so frustrating, I rewrote the beginning 27 times before I came up with what I have. And imma not even gonna mention how long the end took me! I hoper you enjoy this chappie!

**Disclaimer:** I do not own shaman king; I only own my own characters and the plot!

**Chapter 3.**

_**Accusations**_

_5 years later_

"Sensei, where are we going?" asked a girl who looked to be about ten years old, with blue hair that, when tied up in a high pony, reached her waist, her bangs reaching her shoulders. Her pale baby blue eyes looking questioningly at the girl walking in front of her, as she adjusted the pack slung across her back. The other girl, who seemed to be the same age, turned to the first, her aqua hair whipping with the motion. Her hair was shorter then the first girls, in a high pony it reached midway down her back, her bangs reaching to just above her shoulders. Her grey eyes mad contact with the firsts pale blue ones.

" I think its time we trained away from the valley, you need actual experience Hikyrrou." She stated simply, and adjusted her identical pack.

"Leave the only place I've ever known Ammirra-sensei? I haven't even said goodbye to my folks," Hikyrrou looked startled at her teacher. They were walking through the woods towards the south-western mountain wall of the valley.

" I left a note, don't worry it's not like we're not ever coming back," Ammirra comforted her pupil. "We just have to wait 'till after the shaman fight."

" After the shaman fight, that's over three years from now!" Hikyrrou cried. She was really worried now. " You can't expect me to leave my home for three years and not say goodbye?"

"Yes," Ammirra replied calmly. "It is training. You do want to become stronger don't you?"

"I…umm…. argh! Fine, if you insist on going Ammirra-sensei, lets just leave," she gave in. They continued walking to the mountains until they reached the base. "Sensei, how I we supposed to get over the mountains, the lift is on the eastern side, not this side," Hikyrrou inquired.

"That's your first task on this trip, you'll have to figure it out on your own," the teacher replied. Then she jumped and the wind seemed to lift her to a ledge about twenty or so feet up. "Come on Hikyrrou, its not that hard!" she shouted back down to the awestruck apprentice.

"What! There's no way I can make it to that ledge in one jump!"

"Keep trying until you do!"

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_There it is again, her power,_ Hao thought as he gazed once again across a vast desert. _Why? Why is it always here that I feel her presence? Why can't I sense her when I'm in other places?_ He asked himself. In the past five years he had rarely felt her presence, he could only feel it here. Every time he had begun to think he had imagined it he would feel her power again. _Why only here? How is she even alive? _He kept questioning himself, looking for answers he couldn't possibly find. Then he felt her power again, but it was different than before. _Its closer this time, _he thought. Then he started across the desert in the direction of her power._ Its time I found my answers._ The wind blew his long brown hair and white poncho, as disappeared behind a wall of sand.

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After a half hour Hikyrrou still had not made it to the ledge her teacher waited upon. "Sensei, I can't do it, its to hard," the girl complained.

Ammirra sighed in annoyance. "Sure you can, just concentrate on one of your elements and manipulate it to carry you up here," she scolded. _She is the only other elemental shaman who I've met that is like me, with two elements. But there has never been a shaman with control over those elements before, there was never any need so why now, _she pondered as she watched her scraped and bruised pupil try again, falling short by two feet.

"OWWW! That hurts, can't we just go another way Ammirra-sensei, this is to hard!" the pupil complained again as she fell on some sharp stones.

"If this is to hard for you than you'll never make it out there, now try again."

Hikyrrou groaned but got up and attempted the feat again. This time she stood for a while, seemingly concentrating on an unseen force. Suddenly the area lit up, and seemed to effortlessly lift the blue-headed shaman to the ledge. "OH MY GOSH I DID IT," Hikyrrou celebrated as she looked around her to see she was safely on the ledge beside her mentor.

"There you go, now that wasn't to hard. On to the next," Ammirra said, then gracefully landed on another ledge about forty feet above the first.

"What! That's twice as high sensei, I can't make that!"

"Sure you can, now stop being such a downer and jump onto the damn ledge!"

"Oh-Kay, Oh-Kay, I'm coming!" and with that Hikyrrou once again jumped, being carried by light. She missed by ten feet and fell back down to the base of the mountain, "OWWWWWWWWWWW! DAMN IT THAT HURT!"

"Quit your whining and try again," came the scold of her sensei, Hikyrrou only hearing because of her second element, sound. With a groan Hikyrrou jumped easily on to the first ledge, then readied herself again for the next jump. This time she made it and the continued up the mountain this way, Hikyrrou falling several more times.

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When they finally made it to the other side, Hikyrrou couldn't help but ask, "How are we getting down?"

To answer her students' question Ammirra jumped down form their ledge and landed safely on the ground, than she shouted up to Hikyrrou, relying on her students' element to carry her voice. "You can jump down from ledge to ledge if you want, but be careful not to mess up, it's a pretty long fall!"

_**Hikyrrou's POV**_

_I just stared down at the place Ammirra- sensei had disappeared. THIS IS INSANE I'LL NEVER MAKE THAT! Then I sighed and readied my self to jump to the first ledge. It was surprisingly easy; I barely had to use my furyoku at all! Much easier than jumping up the other side, having to use the aid of my first element to get to the ledges that where increasingly far apart, now I just had to use my power to control my landing. It wouldn't take me to long to get to the base where my mentor waited for me._

_**End of Hikyrrou's POV**_

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_He's close, **he's **coming_She thought to herself, as she felt his presence. She had subconsciously been aware that he had come to the edge of the desert many times, looking for something or someone, _looking for me? _His presence drew nearer, he was somewhere in the desert, heading in her general direction. _So you have known this whole time that I was alive, Asakura Hao… but why do you only now come? _She didn't understand why he had waited until now to come and find her. He was very close now, any minute she would see him. _I don't want to face that bastard now, not after what he did._ She turned to jump back up but never got the chance.

"Ammirra…" she heard his voice behind her. She didn't turn to face him.

"Asakura Hao, its been awhile," she replied, her voice cold with hatred.

"So… this is where you've been…"

"Yes, this is where I've been, now if you'd excuse me," she said, readying herself to jump up the mountain. "I'll be going no-" but she never finished. He grabbed her wrist before she could leave.

Forcing her to face him he asked, "Why?" A simple word that asked many questions, questions she would not, could not answer. He wanted to ask her so much more, but when he saw her eyes he could not. Most of her features showed anger and annoyance but her eyes betrayed her. Looking at them Hao was caught in a whirlwind of mixed emotions, like pain, sorrow and to his surprise, fear. _She had never shown fear ever, never been afraid of anything and yet I see a fear in her eyes that seems ancient…_

Ammirra's bitter voice cut into his thoughts, " Why? _You_ don't need to know why, you will _never _know why." She tried to free herself but he tightened his grip on her wrist, and she winced slightly. She was losing her temper anytime now she would lose control and she would do it again. Taking a deep breath she spoke again, trying to keep her voice even, "You don't have the right to know why, Asakura Hao. You are not wroth my time and I, a master, shall not tell you, a mere apprentice, why."

These words angered Hao considerably, but he did not lose control. He merely tightened his grip more, enjoying her small gasp of pain, before replying, "Me, an apprentice. No, I am a Yin Yang master, not an apprentice Ammirra. Now answer my question, or do you not trust me?"

For some reason she found his words amusing, for she giggled before she answered him, "_You,_ a _Yin Yang Master,_ No Hao you are no master, an apprentice can not become a master until their sensei has thought them all they can, and Hao there is far more that you could have learned from me. You, however choose to turn your back on your sensei. And on the matter of trust, you had your chance but once again _you _screwed it up. You went behind my back and you betrayed my principles, among other things. I will _never_ trust you again!" Then Ammirra heard a faint thud behind her, _Hikyrrou has finally made it down. _She heard footsteps coming from behind her but it seemed that Hao had not noticed. Then suddenly they stopped.

"AMMIRRA-SENSEI," an angry Hikyrrou screamed as she witnessed the scene in front of her. She was angry at this shaman who was obviously bothering her sensei in some way. Hikyrrou was so angry that any one would put their hands on her teacher that she let her power go and sent a bolt of blue lightning at the man. He managed to dodge it in time, but was so shocked with the sudden interruption that he loosened his grip slightly on Ammirra's wrist. Just enough for her to free herself, and she took the chance without hesitation.

Then in Hao regained his composure. "We will continue our conversation at a latter date," he told her, then, just to annoy her, he added, "Am-chan."

Before Hao could disappear in is flames Ammirra shouted at him, "Fuck you, you two timing scrawny bastard!" With that Hao vanished leaving no trace that he had been there.

"Ammirra-sensei, who was that?" The curious blue hair asked.

"Don't worry about that now Hikyrrou. Lets just continue on with our trip." Ammirra answered her.

"Umm… oh-kay!"

"…. Hikyrrou…"

"Yes sensei?"

"Thank you," Ammirra spoke words she never thought she would say.

" Don't thank me Ammirra sensei. You could of handled it on your own I'm sure!"

"I'm not so sure anymore Hikyrrou… I'm not sure of anything anymore." These words shocked Hikyrrou, they sounded like the words of someone else, they weren't words Ammirra would say. _What is wrong with you sensei? _She thought, carefully guarding her mind, _why do you sound so… so betrayed?_

There you go, the third chappie. Hao and Ammirra finally met again. YAY! But why is Ammirra so mad at him? Hmm I wonder. And why would Hao call her Am-chan? Also a good question. Meh, You'll just have to wait and find out in later chapters. My next few updates might be pretty slow with the holidays coming and exams pretty mush as soon as we get back into school. I'm getting lots of Homework now, especially in social class. According to our teacher where a week behind the other classes ;;; Well yeah, ill try and update ASAP. PLZ review!

**JA NE! **


	4. Chapter 4

**Disclaimer: **I do not own SK, I do own most of the OCs in this fic however. That's right most. There will be at least 3 OCs that I do not own in this fic, surprised? Included among them is Hikyrrou and the character I will introduce in this chappie, well they are actually characters made by my friends specifically for this fic, though they may use them in their own fics.

Imma so happy. I finally got the forth chappie done for u guys, so I hope u all enjoy it. And don't worry there will be action in chapters to follow.

**Chapter 4**  
**_Sibling_**

A pair of emerald green eyes looked at the valley bellow. There on a ridge half way up one of the mountains stood a girl who looked to be about fifteen. Her hair was a bright red, and she had part of it up, while she left the rest down to reach halfway down her back. She wore a schoolgirls blouse with a green plaid skirt and knee high green boots. It amused her to see how little her ancestral home had changed in the two millennia since she had last been here. _I have to go down there. I need to know if she has been here._

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"Ammirra-sensei?" asked the blue haired female shaman. She looked to be twelve.

"Yes, Hikyrrou," Ammirra, turned her grey eyes from the fire in the middle of their small camp, to look at her student. Their camp was merely a fire, a small pile of wood and their beds on opposite sides of the fire. Ammirra refused to use tents, even when the weather was bad. So that is what Hikyrrou had gotten used to in the last two years.

"Umm… the other day you mentioned something about doubles or something like that…"

Ammirra cut her student off, "ah yes, dark doubles as I like to call them, of course they don't think of themselves that way. I suppose you want to know more about them then?"

"Yes, yes I do." Hikyrrou then added more wood to the fire as it was beginning to die down. Hikyrrou then sat back down, wrapped her arms around her legs and rested her head on her knees, readying herself for a long explanation from her teacher.

Ammirra sighed and then launched into her lecture. "Well, ok, the doubles, there like every single elemental shamans opposite," she told her pupil. Then reading Hikyrrou's mind, she cleared something up that the blue had gotten mixed up. "No, Hikyrrou, that does not mean that they are opposite elements as us. It also does not mean that my double would have two elements either. My last double from my life a thousands years ago was actually two shamans, not one."

"I don't get it."

"Then let me finish," Ammirra snapped at her pupil. "Ok, each element has a dark side and a light side, like yin and yang. Making me yin for water and wind. That of course does not mean, as I mentioned earlier that the yang for water and wind is one shaman, it could be two, one for water, the other for wind of course."

"Ok, so does that mean that you have two doubles and will always have two now?"

"No, you see I killed one of my doubles in a previous life, and when the yin kills the yang that particular one does not come back but is replaced by a new one in the yin's next life. In my last life however, I killed both of my yangs, and that means I might have a single double this life. I don't know if I do or not though because they have never shown themselves to me."

"Oh, I get it now, but what if the yang kills their yin does that yin die forever and get replaced to?"

"Yes, your catching on quickly Hikyrrou," Ammirra beamed at her student, " but enough of that for now."

"Umm," Hikyrrou wanted to ask one more thing of her mentor but was afraid the mentioned was not in the mood for more questions.

Ammirra sighed, " go ahead Hikyrrou, ask ONE more question, but only one okay."

_**Ammirra's POV**_

_I will always regret letting her ask that question, the one thing I could not answer._

"Umm, ok," _she led into the question,_ "that fire shaman, Hao, what would that make him? Yin or yang?" _As I heard Hikyrrou ask this question my guts churned, I had known that she would ask this. However I told myself that I was wrong, that I had had made a mistake when I probed her mind. No such luck, I never misread people's minds. How am I to answer that question, I've been asking myself that ever since I laid there dying in my previous life. I pondered that for what seemed like ages, but it had really only been around five minutes. _

My pupil looked at me worriedly, probably because I was not saying anything, normally I would say something like u don't need to know that_, or,_ I'll let you figure that out on your own_, if I was not going to answer her. I took a deep breath and did my best to answer her, so she would not worry about me, I _hate_ it when people worry about me. _" I… I'm not sure."

"WHAT! How could you not know Ammirra-sensei,"_ she asked me, her voice high with apparent surprise._

"I'm not sure anymore Hikyrrou ok. That's the one thing you can ask me that I will be unable to answer. If you must know, when I first met him I…" _I faltered, not wanting to remember that time so long ago, well long ago for normal people. That time sill seemed like yesterday for me, and remembering it was painful. I stared at the fire and started hugging myself, despite my attempts to remain emotionless. It took all my determination to keep myself from crying, I had never cried in front of anyone… and I wasn't about to start now. I had to close my eyes, I knew if I didn't it would be impossible to keep the tears from falling. I would have that dream again tonight…_

_Hikyrrou's voice broke into my thoughts _" A-Ammirra-sensei, a-are you ok? Please, if I said something that upset you…"

_No, I wasn't going to listen to that, _"I'm fine! I'm fine," _I shouted, keeping my eyes closed the whole time. _" Back then when I first met him I had been positive that he was yin, yes, yin. As time passed I began to believe I had been wrong, however. He did so many horrible things, then I was sure he was yang…." _I broke off, finding to hard to continue at that moment. I took several deep breaths before, opening my eyes, at last, to look at the blazing fire in front of me again, I finished, _" At the end of my last life, I…. I didn't know what to think, I have no idea what he is, he acts like yang, but then he suddenly does something that makes you think other wise, and I have also been unable to sense which he is… so I can't answer your question… the only one who can is…" _I hesitated again, it had been so long since I had seen her. _"Is my sister… Sutara…"

_**End of Ammirra's POV**_

As if on cue, a female shaman suddenly appeared to Ammirra's right. Hikyrrou just stared at the girl, who seemed to be at least three years older than her and her teacher. Ammirra looked up but was surprised only for a moment as she saw who it was. The newcomer's emerald eyes met with the wind-water shamans grey ones. Ammirra jumped to her feet suddenly and gave the newcomer a hug. The newcomer, brushing her red locks out of her eyes, hugged the shorter one back, and then carefully pushed her away. Ammirra's eyes were filled with such joy, which she hid quickly.

"Nea-san…. its… been awhile," the wind-water shaman stated flatly, brushing her aqua bangs out of her eyes. "So, how have you been, and why are you here, Sutara?"

_**Sutara's POV**_

_Why? I couldn't help but ask myself that. I wanted to know why she was so cold to me with her last words. She treated me as if I would betray her at any moment, as if I was untrustworthy… then it clicked, I knew why. I could some it all up in one word, _him. _That was the only reason I could find. My sister had been crushed a thousand years ago, when Hao, that good for nothing, dirt, perverted, fucking man whore, turned his back on her. I would never forgive him for it, never. I also knew that after what he did my sister my find it hard to trust anyone ever again, even me. He _will _pay for what he did to my sister, I will make him go through ten times worse than what he put Ammirra through, and that's a promise._

_Then I heard the voice of the blue haired shaman who had been sitting opposite of my little sister,_ "Ammirra-sensei… your sister!" _The blue, who was now on her feet, took a step towards Ammirra. Sensei huh? I thought to myself, so Ammirra is getting over it after all, at least enough to take in another apprentice, this is good._

_I went to my sister and asked, _"Sensei huh? So I see you decided to train somebody else after all. What is her element then? And her name? She comes from our home valley, does she not?"

_Before my sister could answer me the blue haired shaman appeared in front of me. _"So, you are my sensei's older sister Sutara. If I answer your questions will you answer mine?" _Her baby blue eyes met my emeralds, and I nodded. A broad smile appeared on the twelve-year-olds face. _" Oh-Kay then! My name is Hikyrrou, no last name, and yes I do come from your ancestral home. Also I do not have a single element, and, according to Sensei, I am the only shaman ever to control these elements, since an elementalist hasn't been needed in the past for them. I am the Lightning-Sound shaman!"_ I couldn't help but gape at this. I was aware of these elements before now yes, but as my sister had obviously told this shaman, Hikyrrou, an elementalist had not been need for this element, considering that they had been in trace amounts easily covered by the other elementals. Her existence told me that the amount of energy in these to elements had at least doubled, causing the need for an elementalist under these two elements. _"Oh-Kay! I answered your question so now it's your turn!" _the blue's face then became serious, _" The fire shaman, Hao," _she seemed to gag at his name, _"is he Yin or Yang? Oh and I wouldn't mind knowing what element you are." _SHIT! She had to ask that, if I answered it I might upset Ammirra… but then again I might give her a hope… a hope that will only lead her to be hurt again… but it will ease her to know, I argued with myself. In the end I thought it best to tell them. Ammirra knew I knew what _he _was, and she would forever stay mad at me if I kept my mouth shut. Lying would do me no good either, it would crush my sister, and she would again lose the will to live. I did not want to see her like that again._

_**End Sutara's POV**_

Sutara sighed deeply, then she let her information drop, for the listeners to analyze, "I am a fire elemental."

Hikyrrou gasped, "Then… then that means he's a double?"

"No," the red replied, her voice emotionless, then catching the blue's unguarded thoughts, she added, " And I'm not either." _Apparently my sister has not explained everything to this girl yet_, Sutara thought. "There can be more than one yin or yang under an element, but only one of them is the leader with control over the rest."

Ammirra continued the lesson her sister began, " like I am the top of wind and water, while my sister, is the top of…" She was interrupted

"No, Ammirra I'm not, not anymore, for just under a thousand years now that title has belonged to somebody else," Sutara met eyes with her sister, who looked at her confused. "He, Hao has had that title ever since… ever since you died from that disease…" her voice trailed off. Ammirra's grey eyes widened in shock.

"So then… he is yin? But that makes no sense, he is not good, he is evil to the core!" Hikyrrou shouted, completely displeased by this news.

The red let out laugh, her eyes turned to their fire, it was burning out, she re lit it. Then she looked at her sister, concern clouding the normal shine of her emerald green eyes.

_**Ammirra's POV**_

_It was just impossible. I wanted to believe it so much, but I found myself unable to. All I wanted was for it to be true, but something inside of me just could not accept it. I turned away from the fire and started putting my bed and other stuff back into my bag. I could feel the two staring at me, but I didn't care. I could tell that they were having a mental conversation with each other, something that my new pupil had only managed this morning. I could tell that Hikyrrou wanted to stop me, to come after me as I picked up my bag and started walking away, but my sister knew what I was going through, understood that I wanted to be alone at the moment. Sutara stopped my student and watched me walk away, sending me one mental message, "be careful little sister…" I chose not to respond through mind speech, or out loud, I simply raised my hand for a brief second as I continued to the nearest body of water. As soon as the camp was out of sight behind me I used my element to teleport me there. It wasn't as fast as when Hikyrrou, my sister, or… Hao, teleported. It was, however, much faster than walking. I never expected to find what I did there…_

_**End of Ammirra's POV**_

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Hao had left his followers to sit at a peaceful lake, one undisturbed by the filthy humans. He sat there for a long time just staring at the surface of the water. Hao felt a familiar power, a fire shaman. The one who had held his title till a thousand years ago. She had transported herself to a place not far from the lake. Concentrating carefully on the area he had sensed her he found Ammirra and her new apprentice there. This did not surprise him. He fully expected Sutara to go to her sister. However he never expected what happened next. He felt Ammirra leave the camp, and lost where she was. About fifteen minutes later he felt her power again, much closer to him. After that he felt nothing where she had been._ She must have teleported then,_ he thought to himself. Then he felt the wind pick up, and watched as the water swirled violently. Looking behind him he was shocked by what he saw….

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There we go. The forth chappie all done!

I almost passed out working on this the other day, oopsy, that tells me iv been sitting in front of my comp a little to much, Heh heh. I got sooooo dizzy

but imma fine now! Oh and before I forget, I now have two editors, Hiks and Sutara

Guess you guys have noticed that like all the peeps who work on the story r actually characters in it as well. Thanx for all your reviews, and if you have any CONSRUVTIVE criticism, pleas tell me. Imma always looking for ways to improve, oh ya I need to warn ya there my be some OOCness in some of the upcoming chappies, ill try to keep it to min. but that is gonna be just a little challenging…

Plz R&R!

JA NE!


	5. Chapter 5

**Disclaimer: I do not own shaman king, only the OCs, excluding Banira, Hikyrrou and Sutara.**

Ah yes, done, I have been done for a while but my editor that was supposed to edit this chappie had comp problems, so I had to edit it myself. But then so many things happened in such a short time so I didn't have time. And like I said exams r rite around the corner…. Iv been done this chappie the whole brake and I haven't even started the next one… please enjoy this chappie

**Chapter Five**

**Reasons**

_**Flashback:**_

_Her world went dark as a hand covered her grey eyes. She could feel his breath on her neck as he spoke to her, "Guess who, Amms." His free arm wrapped around her waist. That tore it… the image of last nights incident was still fresh in her mind. She was not going to be like other women, she was not going to let any man push her around. She was definitely not going to be like them, not with her power._

Something inside her snapped, "GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME! I DON'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOU," she yelled at him, but he did not let go, instead he turned her around and stared into her eyes. She didn't look away, "I SIAD HANDS OFF!" With that she sent a gust of wind to push him away, but she was still learning to control her furyoku then, she had never intended to go so far. She stared in horror at his bloody body. She had never killed before, but in that instance she changed. She began to hate 'them', to hate 'humans'. After that she promised herself that she would never let a man close to her again. For uncountable years she killed any man who had tried to get close to her, so remaining a complete and total virgin, never even experiencing her first kiss. However she felt so… betrayed and lost… she had no idea what to do, and there was only one person she dared to ask.

_**Flashback end**_

Ammirra tried hard not to think of what she had just heard as she walked away from the camp, she managed that pretty well but she couldn't keep her thoughts from drifting to past memories… memories she did not want to remember. She was no longer paying attention to where she was going, she only new that it was towards the nearest lake. She continued for a while, when she had reached a point about a three quarters of the way to the lake she stopped, now completely immersed in her past…

_**Flashback:**_

After she had seen to it that he really was dead Ammirra had gone straight to the one person she dared to ask for help, not her sister, her sister wouldn't know much more than she did. "Sensei! Hello? Anybody here? Sensei!" she said at the door, normally she would be standing there waiting for nearly an hour before anybody came. This time was different, someone came in around fifteen minutes. Ammirra couldn't help but curse the size of her sensei's home.

_"Ammirra? What is it?" said a young but wise voice. Ammirra never got a chance to answer her sensei's question. She knew the answer just by looking into Ammirra's grey eyes with her brown ones. Brushing her blue, purple, and brown hair back out of her face and securing it more tightly in its low ponytail she signalled her student to follow her inside._

Flashback end 

When she teleported to the lake she was still deep in her past, which was probably the reason she never noticed…

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Back at the campsite Hikyrrou was glaring at Sutara angrily. She did not understand how Sutara could let Ammirra, her own sister, just leave like that. Especially since it was obvious to Hikyrrou that her sensei was not thinking straight, that something was bothering her. However, her sensei was not the only thing bothering her. "How did you know where we were?"

Sutara looked at Hikyrrou with her emerald eyes, she couldn't help but giggle before giving her answer, " I went to the valley, since that was the last place I had felt her presence. I was going to ask the shamans there if they knew were she was, but as soon as I saw those scars on the mountainside and the tree stumps I just had a feeling she wasn't there. I couldn't sense her life force anyway, and if she was there I would have. So I simply looked for her in the surrounding areas, not physically of course. I searched for her mind, a task so much easier when the person you are looking for is thinking about you or if they're emotions are… well at the extremes. I went over this area with my mind five times, and was almost ready to give up, when I found her." Sutara looked at her sisters pupil curiously, _I wonder if she understood all that…_

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A strange girl was watching the scene at the lake from a tree. The girl, with her brown, blue, and purple hair, looked to be about fourteen. Her brown eyes where fixed on a spot behind the twelve-year-old boy sitting at the edge of the lake. Just then the winds picked up and Ammirra appeared. The mysterious girl watched Ammirra closely, noting how out of it the latter was. The boy turned around, and his eyes momentarily widened in surprise. Slowly a smirk spread across the boys face, and he chuckled. The sound snapped Ammirra out of her thoughts, and she stared at the boy, who was now standing in front of her. Her grey eyes grew wide, the stranger found this quit amusing and couldn't help but giggle. Neither Ammirra nor the boy seemed to hear her, they had no idea they were being watched. "H-Hao!" Ammirra's features quickly changed from surprise to anger, "what are YOU doing here? Oh wait, I kno-"

Hao interrupted her, grabbing her wrist and squeezing it rather painfully, "what am I doing here? Minding my own business, but since you're here… why don't you answer my questions hmmm?" He watched her squirm in his grip… he enjoyed the sight, but it was not something she would usually do. He couldn't help but wonder about her strange behaviour.

Ammirra just wanted him to leave her alone, "just let go Hao… I," she wined. "I'M NOT IN THE MOOD!" she yelled at him as she pulled away, failing to free herself from him.

The look on her face came as a complete shock to him, the Ammirra he knew never looked like that. She looked so distressed, so… helpless… and to his surprise she sounded on the verge of tears. Seeing her like that gave him this urge… he wanted to… comfort her. _ No you fool!_ He shook his head, unwittingly loosening his grip on her. She slipped away and started to go to the other side of the lake before he really noticed. He appeared in front of her, he wanted answers, and this time he was going to get them. "Hmmmm… running away are you? What happened to the old Ammirra, who never ran away from anything?" he taunted. Now he knew something was wrong, for Ammirra did nothing, she just stopped and stared at her feet.

In the tree the stranger looked at Ammirra, her interest in the situation changing dramatically, she now seemed very serious. _So… you're finally going to tell him… Ammirra, _she thought.

Still looking at her feet Ammirra whispered, " If… if I answer… your question… will you leave me alone?" There was a hint of pleading in her voice.

This startled Hao, he stared at her. _So… Ammirra, for the first time I see your weak side… all right I'll play along… for now._ "Hmmmm, all right."

Ammirra turned around to look at him, her eyes telling him almost everything on their own. She reached into her bag and pulled out a stone with a strange marking on it. Hao immediately knew what it was. Ammirra whispered something he didn't catch and the marking on the stone began to glow. It started white, progressing through the colours in a pattern, ending finally at black. Then it flashed, and the strange light filled the area. When the light finally disappeared Ammirra put it back in her bag. "There, now you will get your answers, so please leave me alone." He however just stayed there… staring… he didn't understand what had just happened… he was supposed to have seen something but he hadn't. Then his head started to hurt… he closed his eyes to ease this sudden pain… and that's when he saw it…

Hao found himself in a valley he had never been to before, but he knew it was the valley Ammirra called home. He looked around… and spotted Ammirra training. To his surprise she seemed to be having trouble controlling the wind…this must be in her first life… he thought as he watched the teen struggle. She must have been around eighteen. Then he saw the man approaching her. This strange man wrapped his arm around her waist and put his other hand over her eyes. Then the man whispered something in her ear… the scene suddenly changed to another one… what? Hao thought confused before realizing that it must be something the Ammirra back then had remembered at that time. He stared at the scene before him, there the same man who had come up behind Ammirra was kissing some other girl in the woods, and Ammirra was staring from behind a tree. Her eyes were watering as she turned and ran… then the scene changed back. He heard Ammirra yell as the wind picked up, "GET YOUR HANDS OFF OF ME! I DON'T WANT ANYTHING TO DO WITH YOU!" The man didn't let go, "I SIAD HANDS OFF!" she yelled again, then the wind hit him. Hao saw it sever a main artery, and within seconds the man died. Hao watched as Ammirra stared horrified, then her face hardened as she walked up to the man, as if to check if he really was dead. Then she walked away. At this point scenes started to flash in front of him, all of them consisting of men trying to get close to her, and being killed. Each time she murdered one of them her face hardened. Then the scenes stopped flashing as another one materialized… one with him. She was teaching him a lesson… and he was not listening to her, he remembered that this was around the time he had quite his training with her… and started to try and seduce her. He was young then, just at the beginning of manhood. " Hao! Will you pay attention! You may need to know this some day!"

"Why, it seems unimportant to me…"

"Hao! This is very important! This is the only way to cure Zebouwe Laixm, the furyoku devouring disease!"

"I don't care." Said the young man, as he turned and started to walk away. "I'm out of here, you don't have anything else useful to teach me…"

Hao opened his eyes. He stared at Ammirra, I could have helped her, she was teaching me how… is that why she's so upset? Hao looked at her a moment longer before turning his back on her, "we will meet again." With that he disappeared in flames. Ammirra sat at the edge of the lake, hugging her legs to her and staring at the once again calm water. The stranger smiled, jumped from her perch and disappeared.

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The next morning at the camp, Hikyrrou was already awake, waiting for her teacher to come back. She was beginning to worry. Sutara looked to still be sleeping, when she suddenly sat up, " she comes." Sure enough, just after Sutara finished her sentence the wind picked up and Ammirra appeared.

Hikyrrou immediately stood up, and stared at her teacher. "Pack up Hikyrrou, were going to the ocean," Ammirra told her pupil. Hikyrrou hastily obeyed and rolled up her sleeping bag, attaching it to her pack.

They walked until noon before Ammirra decided to let Hikyrrou eat. Hikyrrou hastily finished her food, she could tell that Ammirra was impatient to go again. Then she noticed someone coming. She looked to the east as someone appeared. Ammirra had felt the new presence as well and turned to the new comer. Her eyes widened. "B-Banira-sensei!" she exclaimed. The new comer merely nodded at her. Ammirra immediately bowed to her. Then, returning to her feet, met eyes with her. A private conversation seemed to go between them in the blink of an eye. Ammirra nodded and turned to Hikyrrou. "This is Banira, Hikyrrou, she is MY teacher."

Hikyrrou bowed, " it is a pleasure, Banira-sama." Banira merely nodded.

Ammirra then addressed all of them, "well. Shall we go?"

"Yeah," her sister was the first to reply.

"Of course Ammirra-sensei."

Once again Banira only nodded. " Alright then… lets go!" exclaimed Ammirra as she started off again, to the southwest.

Done! Yeah! Ok, I'll try my best to update again soon, but imma starting to lose my inspiration… its probably just the stress of late… I KNOW! Reviews will make me feel better! Yeah, if u like my fic, even just a little, I would really appreciate ur reviews. And imma still in the market for any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism any of u have. And yes I do realize I have a thing for the direction southwest heh. And Hiks…. SHUT UP! U know Iv been under A LOT of stress lately… and u make stupid mistakes like that to… I fixed some of the mistakes in this chappie that I missed, the rest r just going to have to wait.

Thanx for all the reviews on all my prev. chappies!

JA NE


	6. Chapter 6

**Disclaimer: ** I do not own Shaman king. I do own most of the OCs the rest belong to close friends.

Hiya! Imma back with the next chappie. So sorry this took me awhile, but I've had a lot happen to me in the last little bit. I also had to edit this chappie myself again. Mm the stress mounts as I have to write the part A of my English exam tomorrow in class, and I have to write my social essay for the social exam on Wednesday. And then after that I have to write my social exam on Thursday… exams have finally started and imma freaking out. But I do get no school after my social exam till the 25 when I write the second part of my English exam.

Chapter Six

_**Commence**_

Ammirra would not allow Hikyrrou to use her power to help her in anyway at all on the way to the coast. Of course this annoyed the blue-headed shaman since she didn't understand her sensei's reasons to do this. To top it all off Ammirra made Hikyrrou run on a large course she set up for two days before she was allowed to continue on ahead, traveling for a day and setting up camp again. Then she would have to run again for two days. None of it really made sense to Hikyrrou, and she was completely exhausted. At this rate it would take them forever to reach the coast. On one of the travel days Hikyrrou's curiosity got the better of her and she decided to ask her teacher what the purpose of all this was. "Um, Ammirra-sensei…"

"What is it Hikyrrou?" the aqua-headed shaman inquired.

"Well… I… I was just wondering what the purpose of all this is?"

Ammirra laughed silently, _I see she sees no purpose, but at least she realizes that she could be wrong, _"Well, Hikyrrou, a shamans spiritual power is very important, but if you can't physically handle it then it will do you no good no will it? The purpose of this training is to raise your physical endurance and stamina," she explained.

"Couldn't we do that in some other way, I mean it's been like two months and we are still not even close to the coast! This way is going to take forever!" The less experienced shaman cried.

Ammirra laughed at her pupils whining, "No, Hikyrrou. This is the most effective way. Besides we still have ten months to get to Tokyo, and if we just traveled every day than we would be there to early."

"But sensei! We aren't even at the coast yet! And when we get there we have to cross to Japan, not to mention get to Tokyo from there!"

"We are a lot closer to the coast than you think," Said Sutara, coming up behind the blue-headed shaman.

Hikyrrou yelped, startled at the sudden appearance of the red-headed shaman. "Whaa! Don't sneak up on me like that! And what do you mean by that?"

"Simple, you where thinking that we have to be over a thousand kilometres from the coast, when really we are less than five hundred kilometres from the coast." Sutara explained.

"What! We haven't been covering that much distance… have we?" Hikyrrou asked sceptically.

For the first time since Banira joined them, she spoke, to someone other than Ammirra, "We have." And then she continued walking, keeping silent for the rest of the journey to the coast.

----------------------------

It took them about two more cycles to get to the coast, upon their arrival Ammirra simply sat down on a rock and stared at the water. She ignored he student's pleas that it would be best that they started across, or they would run out of time. Sutara and Banira just watched amused. "Jeez Hikyrrou, we have just under ten months okay, that's plenty of time… Now, RUN THE DISTANCE WE COVERED IN THE LAST 2 MONTHS AND SIX DAYS AND BACK!" she commanded her pupil, who was starting to get on her nerves, " AND if you are not back in two weeks you will have to do DOUBLE the amount, if you use your power than you will have to do TRIPLE the amount!" she added to the franticly fleeing back of her apprentice. Hikyrrou ran for her life and managed to make it back JUST within her allotted time limit, heavily panting. When she returned Ammirra was sitting on the exact same rock, staring at the exact same spot as when she had left.

----------------------------

Ammirra Refused to cross to Japan for five months, saying over and over they had plenty of time. The whole time she kept giving Hikyrrou harder and harder tasks to accomplish. Then she finally gave Hikyrrou the task of finding away to Japan without assistance. She was allowed to use her power of coarse but she couldn't use a boat, or raft. " How am I to do that!" Hikyrrou complained

"You have to figure that out on your own. Haven't you been paying attention to what I have been saying? Look we spent all that time training you physically, now its time for some mental and spiritual training." With that Ammirra and her old sensei disappeared.

"What! Oh man…" Hikyrrou whined.

"You are also NOT allowed to teleport." Sutara said as she disappeared in her flames.

"This is just GREAT! Absolutely PERFECT! What am I supposed to do now?" Hikyrrou flopped down onto the beach and began to wonder at how she was to complete this task, BEFORE the tournament started. She had less than five months to figure it out… less than that if she took into account that she would have to get to Tokyo after she crossed. "DAMN! How am I gonna manage… wait a minute, I'm just not allowed to teleport, I was never told that I couldn't use my speed!" She grinned. Then she stood up and looked out across the ocean, "Here I come…" with that she shot of across the ocean.

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Hikyrrou arrived at the place were she was supposed to meet her sensei, and to her surprise nobody was there yet. She looked around, wondering if she had gone to the wrong place, but no, this was the place. She waited for fifteen minutes there before Ammirra and the others showed up. "What took you so long Ammirra-sensei?"

Ammirra's eyes temporarily widened in shock, "Well, how unexpected, I thought you would be wondering about that for a good while after we left, guess you are a quicker learner then I thought. But now we have a problem. We could make it to Tokyo within the day, but we have five months… hmmm". Ammirra then went deep into thought.

Then Banira surprised them all by making a suggestion, "Ammirra, though she is your pupil, I would like to suggest something," Ammirra nodded and waited for her teacher to continue, " Sparing. She needs more actual battle experience, AND as your teacher, I have noticed that you could use the practice as well."

Ammirra stared at the wisest in the group for a good ten minutes. "Sensei, I'm not sure she is ready for that…"

"Nonsense, she may not have your experience, but you'll find it hard to hit her with her speed."

Ammirra sighed, "Alright alright," then she turned to Hikyrrou, " First thing tomorrow morning Hikyrrou, be ready, I won't wait for you." Then Ammirra pulled out her sleeping bag, "I'm going to bed now, good night."

--------------------------

The next morning, both Hikyrrou and Ammirra were up at dawn, fully dressed and ready to start. Ammirra looked at her pupil curiously, _she seems to be holding together on the outside… for now_. "Ready?" Hikyrrou nodded. " Don't hold back, because I don't intend to." With that Ammirra brought out her spirit, witch Hikyrrou had never seen before. The lightening-sound shaman stared at her sensei's spirit. It was very large, and appeared to be a stag of a baby blue colour. Hikyrrou had never seen anything so beautiful in her life, except, in her opinion, her own spirit. Hikyrrou quickly regained her concentration and brought out her spirit as well. Her spirit was a yellow wolf that was larger than any living one, a lot larger, but it wasn't all that big compared to other spirits. Ammirra smirked, _if her spirit is this big already than she really has been progressing quickly... but she still won't be able to beat me_. Ammirra then stretched out her right arm, palm up, the stag broke and swirled around her outstretched hand before it became a staff with water and wind symbols carved onto it. "This will be easier," she explained to her pupil. Hikyrrou copied her sensei's actions, hoping she'd get it right since she had only learned to do this recently, and hadn't had any time to practice. To her extreme relief it did work and she had a staff with the symbols of sound and lightning carved into it.

Hikyrrou gulped, "R-Ready sensei!" she said as she got into a fighting stance. "AHHH!" she screamed as she was hit roughly to the ground.

"HA! You call THAT ready? You didn't even sense me coming! Concentrate Hikyrrou!"

Hikyrrou quickly got back to her feet. "Right… this ti- AHHH!" and she was hit back down again.

" Come now Hikyrrou. Is that ALL you have?" her sensei mocked her, "Really pathetic, you should have been able to dodge th- hmm" Ammirra notice that the Hikyrrou she was looking at was merely an after image. Quickly she brought her staff butt back and had the satisfaction of hearing Hikyrrou groan in pain from its impact. She turned around to see Hikyrrou lying on the ground holding her stomach, her eyes tightly held shut. Suddenly her eyes opened and she disappeared. Ammirra immediately went into the defensive, blocking an attack from the right, then quickly using the wind to stop another a split second after the first. Again and again Hikyrrou attacked at high speeds, but Ammirra saw all of them coming and blocked them just in time. This went on for hours, and Ammirra was having an increasingly difficult time blocking all of Hikyrrou's attacks as the less experienced shaman picked up speed. Hikyrrou now had several bruises and a particularly nasty cut on her right leg, while Ammirra remained unharmed. A less experienced eye would have come to the conclusion that blue-headed shaman would not land a single blow on her teacher, but Sutara and Banira were no fools. They could tell that it wouldn't be to long before Hikyrrou reached a speed that Ammirra would be hard pressed to block all of her attacks, let alone land another blow. "Ahhh!" Ammirra screamed as her pupil managed to land a hit at last. She went flying for a bit before she managed to stop herself. Her left shoulder was now bloody. Ammirra put her hand on the new wound and looked at her own blood. She smirked as she blocked another of Hikyrrou's attacks, "It's been a long time since somebody has managed to injure me, you should be proud you got this far, unfortunately for you," she explained as she continued blocking the frenzy of attacks. "It all ends," and she struck out with her staff, hitting her pupil on the back of the neck. "Now." and with that her student fell to the ground unconscious.

Ammirra then abruptly dropped to her knees panting and holding her injured shoulder with her right hand. Her sister immediately came forward, "Ammirra! Are you okay?"

Ammirra smiled at her sister, "I'll be fine, its just been awhile since I had that much of a challenge."

"Your shoulder Ammirra, you should get it fixed up." Sutara said, now kneeling beside her injured sister. "Let me look…"

"No, its not that bad, besides, I think Hikyrrou deserves to see how much damage she did, don't you?" Ammirra shook her sister off and got back onto her feet. She went over to her still unconscious pupil and put her hand above the large gash on Hikyrrou's right leg. Concentrating on that spot with her furyoku she stitched it back together. Ammirra then fixed all the bruises on the blue-headed shaman; however, she let her own shoulder bleed freely.

When the sun started to set Hikyrrou woke. Sitting up slowly she looked around, and spotting her sensei she froze. Her eyes widened when she saw the nasty shoulder wound, and Ammirra's cloths still covered in her own blood. Ammirra smiled at her student's shocked expression. " Don't worry about this minor flesh wound Hikyrrou." Hikyrrou just starred. "You did very well to manage this," Ammirra told her, her smile broadening, "You have come a long way… so now I would like to teach you another useful technique". She motioned then for her pupil to come and sit by her. Hikyrrou obediently got up and walked to her teacher who was sitting against a large rock near the fire. Ammirra signalled her to take a seat, "I'm not going to stand up so get down here!" Hikyrrou blinked furiously at her teachers command before she finally kneeled in front of Ammirra. "Much better," Ammirra said before launching abruptly into her lesson, " Ok, put you hand above the wound on my shoulder."

"W-why?" the lightning-sound shaman asked confused.

Ammirra sighed, "Just do as your told Hikyrrou." With that the young shaman girl hastily did as she was told and waited for more instructions, "Now, concentrate your furyoku onto the spot, and make sure your thinking of healing instead of the normal harm."

Hikyrrou gave it a shot and to her surprise the wound on her sensei's shoulder started to heal. "H-how did I do that?" she asked shocked.

Ammirra laughed as she stood up and went to her bag to get a change of cloths. "You did that by listening to what I told you to do," she explained bluntly. "Now if you'll excuse me, I'm going to the nearest lake to wash up and get changed." With that Ammirra disappeared in a whirlwind.

Hikyrrou just stared at the place her sensei had just been, before she turned around and sat by the fire, waiting for Banira and Sutara to get back, _I wonder where they went, probably to get something to eat_, she stared into the flames, and dozed off.

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Ammirra appeared at the lake, and was just about to take of her blood soaked cloths when she felt his presence again. _Oh great, just what I need…_ her thoughts where cut short as Hao appeared in front of her. She glared at the unwanted company. "What do you want, I answered your question didn't I?" she snapped at him. Hao starred at her, and then at the blood on her cloths, he smirked.

"Looks like you've gotten rusty, or did you finally come around to my frame of mind and decide just to kill off all the humans now?" he mocked her.

"HA! I'd like to see you not get slashed by somebody with the speed of light and sound combined." Ammirra started to lose her already limited temper. Hao raised an eyebrow and cocked his head slightly, keeping his gaze on her. " DON'T look at me like that you disgusting pervert!" she lost it, and went to slap him hard across the face. Hao wasn't expecting it and was hit full force by her. He looked shocked, but he didn't have the time to react as she backhanded him. Both Hao's checks went blood red from the blows.

He stared at her for a second before once again smirking, "Looks like you're just like any other woman." He laughed and disappeared, knowing he had hit a tender spot.

Ammirra stared momentarily at the spot he had just vacated, and to her surprise she was not mad at his comment, _what the hell is wrong with me?_ She asked herself before giving up on the question and getting ready for a relaxing swim.

------------------------

About an hour later Ammirra pulled herself out of the lake and got dressed, putting her hair back into its high ponytail. She was just about to leave when to her surprise she found herself crying. _What the hell is wrong with me… why am I crying? I never cry_, she thought to herself as she tried to stop the tears. Eventually she just gave up and let them fall freely. Staring at her reflection in the lake, she watched it being erased by the ripples of her tears falling onto the water. She cried for a good half hour, and then stood up, drying her face and making sure there were no signs that she had cried. To her relief her eyes looked normal, only slightly red which she could excuse as being tired, and her cheeks weren't puffy. With that she picked up her ruined clothes and gave them a good scrub. Luckily for her she managed to get out the bloodstain. Drying them off she quickly left back to the camp.

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When Ammirra returned to the camp everyone was turning in for the night. She saw the left over food by the fire and quickly ate before she went to turn in as well. "Ammirra-sensei?"

Ammirra jumped at Hikyrrou's voice, she had thought the girl to be fast asleep by now. "Yes Hikyrrou?"

"Will we spare again tomorrow?"

"We might as well. We still have plenty of time before the test. Now lets go to bed so we can get up nice and early to train." With that she crawled into her sleeping bag and went to sleep.

---------------------------

About five months later, the day before Yoh met Silva, Ammirra and her group arrived in Tokyo. "This place disgusts me," Ammirra scowled, before leading everyone to Yoh's doorstep. "Lets stay here," she decided before walking up to the door and calling to see if anyone was there. A little short boy came to the door, _a human? Hmm, no he can see spirits_. "Hello, I would like to speak to the owner of this place," she said politely, smiling at the midget.

"This is my house," a blonde girl in a black dress came to the door, "What do you want?" she demanded.

"I was simply wondering if you wouldn't mind us staying for awhile, its not that we don't have the money to go to a hotel, we would just much rather stay in a place more like a traditional Japanese inn. I will pay you of course." Ammirra said politely to the obviously bossy blonde.

The girl raised and eyebrow, " How much?"

"However much you want," Ammirra told her, pulling out a large wad of money.

The girl eyed it curiously, "Alright, you can stay. Manta, go get some rooms ready for them." She ordered the short boy who hastily ran off. "Yoh! Come here!"

A brown haired boy, who looked a lot like Hao to Ammirra's disgust, came to the door, "Yes Anna?" _I didn't think he'd look that much like the bastard Hao_, Ammirra thought.

"Go upstairs and help Manta prepare some rooms for our guests, then go make some lunch for us, I'm sure they are hungry. I want it done in an hour." Anna told him.

Yoh sweat dropped and followed his midget friend upstairs. Ammirra was hard put not to laugh. Instead she turned to Hikyrrou, " Go to the store and get me this," she handed a piece of paper to Hikyrrou, " be back in time for lunch."

Hikyrrou starred at the piece of paper and sighed, "right," she said as she turned and walked off.

"Come on in and relax while they prepare the rooms, we can discus a price." Anna said sweetly.

"Alright," Ammirra said, following her inside. Banira and Sutara close behind.

-----------------------

The next day, when, Anna and Yoh were at School, Ammirra and her group were getting ready to go for a 'walk' when the met the other house inhabitant, a blue-haired male shaman. They saw him sleeping in the corner of the Asukara yard. Ammirra raised an eyebrow, " he has elemental potential," she said flatly.

"He's cute!" Hikyrrou said, looking the sleeping boy over. "I don't like that headband though, I think it makes his face look flat."

Ammirra burst out laughing, accidentally waking up the male shaman. He jumped when he found himself surrounded by girls. "W-who the hell are you people?" He demanded.

Ammirra was still laughing at her pupil's earlier comment so her sister replied for her. "We came her yesterday and Anna-san said we could stay, my name is Sutara, this laughing idiot is my sister Ammirra, the quite one is Banira, and the blue haired girl is Hikyrrou. Who are you?"

The Boy stood up and brushed himself off, "The names Horro-Horro, I've been staying here awhile, but since I have no money to pay with Anna has me working my ass off."

Ammirra, who had just managed to stop laughing burst into laughter again, she pointed at Horro-Horro, "Borro-Borro the flat face!"

Horro-Horro didn't find her comment funny, "What did you just call me?"

Hikyrrou jumped in, " Don't mind Ammirra-se-san," Hikyrrou almost blew there cover, they didn't want these shamans to know that they where also shamans, and calling a girl who is the same age as u sensei would be rather suspicious, lucky for them Horro-Horro didn't notice. "She's not herself, we'll just go now." Hikyrrou said and quickly grabbed her sensei, getting out of there. Banira and Sutara exchanged looks before they followed the younger girls out shaking their heads.

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During the 'walk' they ran into one of the ten priests. Ammirra didn't pay attention since she already knew what it was about. When the stars called them they quietly snuck out of the Asakura household. All of them passed the test with ease and didn't even bother to discuss the details. All that mattered was that the long awaited shaman tournament was finally under way.

Whoa! That was my longest chappie yet! With a grand total of 3 675 words in the actual chapter… I had something else I wanted to put at the end of this chappie, a conversation with one of my editors, but the chapter ran on for longer than I expected… but let me know if u want me to include it at the end of another chapter. Any way plz R&R and CONSTRUCTIVE criticism is always welcome!

**JA NE!**


	7. Chapter 7

**Disclaimer:** I don't own shaman king

Well please enjoy the seventh chappie peeps!

Chapter Seven

_**Preparation or Romance**_

"ARGH! This is so frustrating… train here, train there, do this, do that, and oh, don't let Yoh and his friends see you… _how _am I to get any _real_ training when I have to spend most of my time not getting caught at it!" A frustrated Hikyrrou yelled, practically ripping her hair out by the roots. She sighed heavily and sat down in Yoh's yard. She was so stressed at not getting anything done she had not heard, despite usually being aware of everything everyone in the building ever said, someone coming around the corner. Pausing there when they heard her exasperated yells they listened suspiciously.

That someone came around the corner and looked at her carefully. "Training?" it asked.

"WHA!" the female shaman jumped in the air from shock, landing on the roof of the inn. " AWW SHIT! FUCK FUCK FUCK!" she screamed, her voice high pitched, causing the person down below to clasp their hands over their ears. Hikyrrou then looked down to see who had startled her, hoping fervently it was Ammirra and not one of the inhabitants of the inn. "Oh damn it to hell!" she threw her hands in the air as she saw the blue headed male shaman below, " Ammirra is gonna _kill _me… I'm in so much shit…"

At first Horro just stared, blinking, "What's going on, how did you get up there?" he paused as Hikyrrou jumped down and started walking way, mumble under her breath all the punishes Ammirra might be tempted to give her. Horro reached after her, managing for the second time that day to catch her off guard. "Hold it Hikyrrou. You've got some major explaining to do."

Hikyrrou simple turned around and looked at him blinking._ Well I won't get in any more trouble telling him, I mean he'll tell Yoh and Anna and they'll figure it out… maybe this way I can get him to not tell them, meaning only one of them would know that we are shamans,_ Hikyrrou pondered her options. . Pulling her wrist free she simple stated, " Wow you really are dense… I'm a shaman silly." Then deciding to see his reaction she sat down.

Horro stared at her, mouth falling to the ground. " Wh-wha-what!"

She laughed. " I said I'm a shaman," she then pulled out her oracle bell. "See."

"Whoa," than the rest of what she had said earlier clicked in. "Hey. You obviously new we were shamans so why didn't you tell us?"

Hikyrrou sighed. The truth would come out eventually so she might as well tell him everything now and get it over with. " Ammirra-sensei told me I wasn't supposed to."

"Hold on," He stops her there, " Ammirra-_sensei_?"

" Yeah. Ammirra-sensei. She has been my teacher for years now. Trust me, she is an extremely powerful shaman. I still find it hard to believe that Banira and Sutara a possibly stronger, Banira being Ammirra's teacher and Sutara being her older sister and all…"

"Whoa. This is all a little weird… I mean you and Ammirra are the same age, and Banira is only a few years older right?"

She laughed, "One day you'll get it… but not now… the one to explain that one is Ammirra-sensei… and I expect she will explain it to you soon…"

"Huh? What do you mean about that?"

Hikyrrou stood up. "Mmm, sorry I've already said to much… can you promise me something though?"

Horro was caught off guard by her sudden request. "Uhh, s-sure. What?"

"That all this, this conversation and me jumping on the roof, and all of us being shamans and all… stays between us, okay?" she put on her sweetest face.

"Horro stared and blinked at her, a slight flush on his face. "N-no p-problem."

"Good!" she exclaimed, giving him a rather out of character hug, and then blushing as she pulled away. "Ahh, but… but I have to go now. My first match starts soon." She explained hastily, avoiding eye contact. " Bye!" she yelled to him as she hurriedly fled.

Horro just stood there blinking. " HEY! Horro, hurry up! Suppers ready!" a voice called from inside. Horro-Horro immediately snapped out of his trance. " FOOD!" he yelled as he ran into the Asakura household. Unlucky him someone was at the front door. Ammirra, Banira, and Sutara where all not present, and Horro had a guess at where they might be, but true to his word he said nothing.

"I'll get it!" Manta said, as he was up anyway to get everyone seconds. Not to long after there was a commotion in the hall and Horro came out to see what was keeping Manta with the food.

He stopped when he say the blue haired girl in pink and black standing in the doorway. "PIRIKA!"

--------------

A few minutes later they all sat at the table and Horro's oracle bell rang. Pirika grabbed it. " 'Yoh Asakura' what kind of a name is that?" Horro Sweat dropped and looked at Yoh.

" It looks like we will be fighting each other in the first match huh?" Yoh said, as laid back as ever.

"Uh… y-yeah." Horro responded… any second now he knew his sister would pull him out of the room.

Sure enough she did. Though they didn't really go to far and when Hikyrrou was coming back from her easily one first match to say the smoke so decided to go and check it out. " AH! Horro-Horro! What's going on? Why are you out here," then spotting the other person at the camp she added," And who is she?"

Pirika walked up to Hikyrrou, a menacingly look on her face, " I'm Pirika, his little sister. Who are _you_ and _how_ do you know my brother!' she demanded.

Hikyrrou blinked at the other blue female. "Named Hikyrrou… but you better watch how you talk to me… you my be Horro's sister but continue talking to me like that and I might not be able to stop myself from frying you." she explained in a dangerously calm voice. Then abruptly changing attitudes she chirped, " Nice to meet ya" she stretched out her hand for the younger girl to shake. Pirika blinked, but in the end she accepted it and they shook hands. Then Hikyrrou turned to Horro. "Since you know and all, you wanna train with me… you got your first match set up right? That is the reason your out here isn't it?"

Now it was Horro's turn to blink. "Uhh… yeah… its Yoh… so not cool dude!" then he stopped. " Hey… how did your match go… your back pretty quick… spill Kiru."

At first Hikyrrou stared… she wasn't used to being called Kiru… but from Horro it sounded right… she had to try hard not to blush. She put her hand behind her head and smiled. "One hit nock out. Way to easy?" she rolled her eyes.

Horro was relieved that she didn't get mad at him for calling her Kiru. "Really? Cool."

"Yeah… but are you gonna train with me or not?"

"Hold it!" Pirika jumped in. "You're a shaman?" she demanded of Hikyrrou who was taller than her so she had to look up. Hikyrrou nodded, "Your in the tournament?" Once again the older nodded. "GO! GET! I don't need rivals socializing with my oni-chan!"

Hikyrrou started laughing. "Don't worry Pirika… we won't end up fighting each other… unlike you guys my matches have all been planed already… I'm not facing Horro at all in the preliminaries." Then to prove her point she showed Pirika her oracle bell and the times and opponents for her next two matches.

"Oh… but u can't train him… he needs to work hard and become stronger so he can be shaman king and-"

Hikyrrou cut her off, " Oh I'll make him work all right. He'd have to do the same program Ammirra put me through when I just started out… you can watch and if you don't think its enough you can add more if you want."

Pirika looked at her. "What times do you train?"

Once again she laughed. " You don't want to know my normal training hours… they would kill your brother but I'm getting a break. Ammirra is off doing some training with her sensei, Sutara went along, and since Horro knows were shamans Ammirra-sensei asked me to train Horro to, she said it would be a good experience so. Anyway the hours she suggested where five am to ten pm, with maximum breaks of five minutes except when we eat, witch Horro will only be three times a day, no more, well at meal times we get a top amount of thirty minutes." She told the two other bluenettes.

Pirika gave her a good long stare, "All right. Oni-chan… get to bed, your getting up and quarter to five to train with your girlfriend."

The two older shamans blushed and at the same time stuttered, "G-g-girlfriend!"

"We're just good friends…" Horro added blushingly.

Pirika laughed, she had caught both of their blushes, "for now maybe… goodnight!" she then went into the tent and left the two shocked shaman fight participants alone.

Before Horro had a chance to say anything however Hikyrrou said goodnight and left back to the inn. Horro stood there for a while before he to retired for the night.

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That same day, Hikyrrou wasn't the only one to precede dinnertime by fretting about training. Banira had only said a few things to Ammirra, then told her to train, expecting her to figure out what she was supposed to do with the most vague of clues. Ammirra absolutely hated it when her teacher did this. Especially since every single time the clues where less and less directly connected to what she was really supposed to do. Before she had time to figure it out though some unexpected company showed up. Ammirra turned as the fire shaman appeared in his flames. She glared at him " What do _you _want _Hao_?"

He remained silent until he was right in front of her, then he leaned in to her ear and whispered, "You."

She baked away and stared at him plain shock written on her face. Shock that so perfectly hid her want to just give him what he wanted. She turned her back to him, " Sorry Hao, but that's not possible. You would have to beat me in a shaman fight, and that's not going to happen any time soon."

Hao chuckled, his usual smirk falling across his face again. "Hmm, you forget that I've seen your past Am-chan, I know that I can do … " he said as he walked around to her front again and leaned in, kissing her lightly. "… this, and not go against your tribes traditions" his face was still close to hers.

Ammirra attempted to pull away, unable to hide the blush so apparently spreading on her cheeks. Hao was not going to let her go so easily; he quickly wrapped an arm around her waist. When she found herself only able to move her head a little away from his she turned away from him the best she could. "Let go of me Hao." Trying to keep her voice steady she looked back at him. A bad choice for he immediately tilted his head and planted his lips on hers again. He caught her so off guard that she did nothing to resist him. The sensation of lips on hers was alien to her, and she had no clue what to do. Her body however acted on its own accord and she found herself kissing Hao back.

Her unexpected actions caused Hao to break the kiss, but he remained close to her, tightening his grip on her waist. To his surprise she did not protest, instead she leaned in to him. That smirk of his once again found its way onto his face as he brought his mouth to her ear, whispering in a mockingly teasing tone, "I thought teacher and apprentice could not have such a personal relationship, Am-chan". At this point Ammirra freed herself from his grip. Using her wind element she loosened his grip enough for her to duck out and then teleported herself a few feet away before Hao had a chance to register what had just happened.

"How can I teach a pupil unwilling to open his mind?" Ammirra snapped at him.

Hao was taken aback at her sudden change in attitude. "What!" His temper was quickly coming to a boil. He was not closed minded, he was right, and she had no more to teach him that was worth his time. _Wait… is that not what she meant… well no matter, I've too much time on my hands… I might as well listen to her…_

Ammirra suddenly went deep into thought, totally ignoring Hao, who, upon seeing the look on her face, decided just to wait. _I remember Banira saying the same thing to me… and I remember her telling me her teachers last for her was to over come this close mindedness… jeez, I am so closed minded… even after that point… I guess my last task is to finish training Hao… but why the hell Hao… why not Hikyrrou?_ Ammirra sighed.

"If your so convinced you have more to teach me then…" but Hao's words where cut off as Ammirra Abruptly turned, signalled for Hao to fallow, and walked off.

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Banira watched Ammirra train Hao. It slightly amused her. A broad grin was plastered on her face. "Now that the first part is done I should plan the next," she said aloud. The sun had long since set and she watched as the two less experienced, yet most powerful _known_ shaman ate finally. It was late and she figured they would retire soon. However, for the second time since her third life, she was wrong. She felt the air grow hot and the wind pick up. "What! They can't be thinking of fighting now… impossible! When I went ahead it was not to happen now… something has thrown time off balance. But what?"

Done! Sorry for keeping you waiting for so long. I'll try to update again soon. Please review and give any CONSTRUCTIVE criticism you may have.

**JA NE!**


	8. Chapter 8

**Disclaimer:** I do not own shaman king

Well here's the 8th chappie…. This chappie and the 9th are kinda like a two part chappie… they have a similar idea about them but they are by no means the same… tho they do get the same title just cuz it made life easy… well enjoy!

Chapter Eight

_Sisterly Bonds: Part 1_

She felt the air grow hot and the wind pick up. "What! They can't be thinking of fighting now… impossible! When I went ahead it was not to happen now… something has thrown time off balance. But what?" _ This is not good… damn it… _SHE _must be here somewhere._ Banira searched with her mind and senses, but instead she picked up Hikyrrou contacting Ammirra.

"_Ammirra-sensei…" _Banira listened to the blue trying to get her sensei's attention._ She has no idea I'm listening…_ Banira looked down to where Ammirra and Hao were standing, she herd Ammirra's response "Oh good…Hikyrrou got her attention, that avoided near disaster…"

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

_"Ammirra-sensei…" _Ammirra heard her pupil just when she was about to clobber Hao for his damn annoying attitude. _"What the hell do you want Hikyrrou, I'm busy!"_ She snapped back at her pupil irritably. _"I-I-I… You told me t-to contact you after m-my match… a-and tell you h-how I did…"_ Ammirra laughed silently at her pupil's mind stuttering, which she had not thought possible until now, _"And"_ she demanded. _"One hit KO, but I-I-I, well uumm, when I was training… s-s-somehow H-H-Horro Horro… uhh, snuck up on me… and… I kinda jumped on the roof."_ Now that was too much. Sure Hikyrrou wasn't supposed to get caught, but that was just hilarious. Ammirra started blinking surprised and she stopped the wind, she had no desire to ruin such a funny event with a pointless fight. Then she started laughing, holding her stomach and doubling over as she listened to Hikyrrou._ "Pffft… just train him… ha ha…" _she told her student._ "Umm… okay…the hours I started with?" _ Ammirra was now on the ground rolling and Hao was looking at her like she was completely insane. _"Yeah… s-sure… just let me laugh at you in peace."_

"Ammirra, didn't you want to fight… and what is so funny?" Hao asked, now completely lost.

"Oh… Sh-shut up H-Hao," she said choking on her laughter, "I-I'm trying t-to laugh at Hikyrrou!"

"Ammirra, why in the world are you laughing like an idiot… embarrassing…" Banira said as she appeared out of thin air by the laughing shaman. Ammirra's laughing had perked her curiosity, since she had stopped listening in before Hikyrrou told Ammirra what had happened.

"Ho-Horro Horro… s-snuck up on H-Hikyrrou… and she… jumped on the roof… and… and he then caught her o-off … off guard again!" Ammirra said then burst out into even more laughter.

Banira then blinked… "He snuck up on her… but that's…" and Banira started to laugh, but she had more control and stopped soon. "I know your having a good time laughing at your idiot pupil," she said casually. "But," she suddenly went serious, "Now is not the time… We have… company." She gave Ammirra a stern look.

"Huh?" Ammirra abruptly stopped laughing, "Company, Banira-sensei?"

Hao had just been looking between the two, completely lost at their strange behaviour, and wondering whom the new girl was. "Ammirra… did you just say… Sensei?" Hao blinked… looking at Ammirra inquisitively. She only nodded as she kept her attention on her teacher. Hao turned to the other girl. "So… your Banira… Elementalist… of time itself then."

Banira nodded, then tensed, "Keep your guard up Ammirra…"

"Hai." Ammirra quickly brought out her staff.

**"Damn you… Banira… Why do you always insist on getting in my way."**

Banira Tensed even more at the seemingly source-less voice. "Oh… I did nothing." She told it sweetly.

**"It's all the same… an insect got in my way… a pest to my plans."**

"I'm really getting sick of your bug lecture Netta," Banira rolled her eyes.

"**I don't remember giving an insect such as you permission to say my name!"** the voice was angry now.

"Just leave, whatever you where planning you failed Netta… I suggest you get our off here before," Banira's eyes narrowed, "You find yourself in prehistoric times."

**"Bitch! You dare threaten me! If you want so much to prevent me from causing 'the' war… I suggest you don't try my patience!"**

"Blah blah. I know that the war will happen with or without you… wait…" Banira's eyes widened in shock. "You where trying to make the war happen sooner!

**"I've already succeeded in that… but… I want it to happen now, and watch my enemies tare each other apart so the world will be mine… and shaman and human alike will be my helpless slaves!"**

"You! Netta, messing with time like that will destroy everything!"

"That's what I hate about you, you and the rest of the 'yin' elementals as you call yourselves… you don't see that the elements are ours, we can do whatever we want with them!"

"Fool!" Banira murmured as she felt the presence disappear.

"Banira-sensei. Shouldn't we try and locate them. We can't let the doubles upset the balance." Ammirra asked her teacher worriedly.

"There's nothing we can do at this point. Come… we should retire for the night and continue training in the morning." Banira sighed and walked away. Though Ammirra did not follow her, she knew Ammirra was probably upset, and that she needed time to do what she wanted most. What she had wanted to do ever since she had killed for the first time.

"What was all that about… what war was this Netta person referring to?" Hao asked. This Netta had perked his interest.

"How should I know, Banira has never mentioned it, but if, according to her, it is not yet to happen, then if it does it is bad. I supposed your also wondering who this Netta person is." Hao didn't answer, but Ammirra had a feeling he wanted to know. "Netta… is Banira's double… and my…" Ammirra choked, finding herself unable to go on.

This really got Hao interested, "Your what?"

"Nothing, forget about it." Ammirra said as she turned and walked off in the direction Banira had gone. She only went a few feet when she stopped and dropped to her knees. Hugging herself she tried not to cry. She did not want Hao to see her so vulnerable, so she tried her best to pull herself together, to no avail. She heard Hao walk up behind her, but he remained silent for a moment. Then he kneeled down beside her.

"Ammirra," his voice was unexpectedly soft. She snapped, and before she knew it she had started to cry, right in front of Hao… the last person she ever wanted to see her cry. However Ammirra didn't care that Hao saw her weak side… it felt good to be able to just let it all go. Unexpectedly she felt an arm around her shoulder… Hao's arm, but she didn't care. "Ammirra, you'll feel better if you talk about it." Those unexpected words shocked Ammirra, this didn't sound like the Hao she knew, but she still didn't care… at that moment she didn't want to care about anything. She didn't care that she had hated Hao ever since she died in her last life. She found herself wishing she hadn't closed herself up so much, wishing she had broke down in front of him sooner, _no, w-what am I… what am I thinking_, she shook her head. The tears streaming freely down her face she tried to get up, but Hao kept her there.

"H-Hao… please…just let me be." Ammirra begged. "It's… it's none of your concern." Suddenly a fire burst out a few feet away from where they kneeled. A redheaded female shaman step out, then upon setting eyes on the scene before her she stopped dead in her tracks.

"Ammirra?" she whispered, and then she set her sights on Hao. "WHAT DID YOU DO TO HER!" she demanded.

Hao blinked as he turned his head to get a better look at the newcomer. "Nothing, nothing at all Sutara," He answered truthfully.

Sutara's emerald eyes narrowed, "Liar!"

"What could _I_ do to make Ammirra cry… no, this seems to be a problem rooted farther back then me," Hao stated flatly. Then he stopped the lower ranked fire shaman before she had a chance to speak, "Silence Sutara, do you forget the ranks. Now let me speak." Sutara scowled, but in the end she listened to what he had to say. "Perhaps you may know… it has something to do with her teacher's double."

"WHAT! Banira-sama's double!" Sutara's eyes were wide with shock.

"So you know then. Fill me in," Hao said authoritively.

Sutara stared at him indignantly, and then she came to a quick decision. "I will not talk about it around my sister… that's all she needs right now to push her over the edge… if you really want to know, meet me in the place you took my title at midnight." She then quickly grabbed her sister from Hao and left him behind.

Ammirra's POV 

_Heat? Is Hao taking me somewhere? Maybe I should open my eyes and see. No… this isn't Hao. I felt Sutara's presence earlier… so Sutara is taking me somewhere. Damn! I need to pull myself together… Nea-san is probably worried about me… I hate it when she worries. _"Ammirra?"_ ohh, what do you want Nea-san… just leave me alone. _"Ammirra! Listen to me damn it!" _Ah! Sutara never talks to me like that!_ WHACK! "This doesn't only affect you!"_ oww…she actually slapped me!_ WHACK! "Stop being such a fucking conceited brat!" _ah!_

End Ammirra's POV 

Ammirra's eyes suddenly shot open. "I-I… sorry nea-san… I didn't… I didn't mean to be so conceited…" Ammirra apologized, a fresh flow of tears streaming down her now red cheeks. "It's just…"

"Don't worry about it Ammirra… you've been through a lot…" Sutara comforted her sister. "I understand," then she fixed the younger shaman with a stern look, "Just promise me something…"

Ammirra wiped away the tears, and then grey and emerald eyes met, "What?"

"If something bothering you, talk to me… don't keep it all inside like that anymore… and remember its okay to cry… we can cry together…" Sutara told her, emerald eyes watering. Ammirra remained silent. "Ammirra… I worry about you…after… after you died last time I… I was afraid you would lose the will to live… like back then… I don't want to lose you."

"I… Sutara…alright, I promise… you're my family… that's what family does… what real family does… but… I'm a little tired… you think we can go to bed now?" Then Ammirra let out a huge yawn, both shamans burst out laughing and Sutara nodded and passed Ammirra her bag. Ammirra grinned though her face was still tear streaked, "Goodnight nea-san!"

"Ah… yeah… goodnight."

-------------------------

Hao was waiting at an old tree for Sutara. It was almost midnight and there still wasn't a sign of the female fire shaman._ Why did she insist on meeting here though… hmm interesting_. Hao took in the appearance of the surrounding area. He hadn't been here since he took the title… and the grass still looked scorched._ Even after a thousand years you can still see the scars of that day_.

"Strange isn't it… Hao." Sutara came around the tree, also examining the burnt surroundings. "But the reason I asked you to come to this place spans much further back than that."

"Hmm… well?" Hao was starting to get irritated with the redhead.

Sutara sighed, "You just want me to get to the point don't you… very well then." Sutara went up to the tree, placing her hand on its trunk. "This place… this is the place we first met Banira-sama… and Ammirra met Netta for the first time. It is locked… it never changes because of time… the only way it changes is if living creatures harm the area… nothing new grows here, and probably never will, because of that day…" Her emerald eyes where drawn to a broken branch half way up. "That day me and Ammirra sat on that very branch and watched the two below, we where very young… I was only twelve while Ammirra was six… she was pretty hard to handle… and our parents weren't around. Father had been killed a few months after Ammirra was born. The others in the tribe helped but I basically raised her on my own until then… but that day I couldn't keep her still and she climbed into the tree. When I went after her Banira and Netta arrived… we had to hide…"

"Hold on… you had met Netta before that?" Hao asked. Sutara only nodded. "And your father was killed? By who?"

"When I saw Netta I recognized her immediately…. As my fathers murderer and…"

"And what?"

Sutara looked Hao straight in the eye, "And my Mother."

Well just so you know this Chappie was totally a random idea… as is the next… kinda spur of the moment… then I looked at it and I decided that well it could be used for something I needed done. To tell you the truth originally I had Ammirra and Sutara's mom as a good shaman, but not an elemental, but this made it a little more interesting… hey I can change my mind can't I? Please review!

**JA NE!**


	9. Chapter 9

**Disclaimer:** I don't own shaman king. I only own the plot and some of the OCs.

Sorry it took so long to get this up. We moved, Internet doesn't work on my comp, and I'm not allowed to use my mom's laptop for my fic. and then I had final exams. I AM SOOO SORRY! I hope to be able to post the next few chapters in quick succession to try and make up for such a long time of not posting. Again I am sooo sorry!

**Chapter Nine**

_**Sisterly Bonds: Part 2**_

Back in the valley a Blue haired girl with black streaks who looked to be about fourteen was running through the woods to the mountain walls. "Kasser! Kasser!" She called as she neared the mountains and began to slow down. Upon breaking out of the forest she saw a girl with aqua hair. The girl had one red streak in her hair and it hung in front of her face. In front of her stood a boy with blue hair who looked to be sixteen. Immediately the blue haired girl stopped. "Kasser, what are you doing!"

The boy turned to the new comer, "If you know what's good for you, you'll forget I was ever your brother Kassianna." He then turned and he and the other girl disappeared. Kassianna dropped to her knees. She was positive that the other girl had been the one called Netta, and Kasser had gone with her.

"Damn It! Kasser you fool!" She yelled to empty air as tears poured down her face. At that moment she made the decision to go and find her little sister where ever she was. She had to warn her before she found out the hard way, that their only brother had betrayed them.

--------------------------

Hao returned to his camp, lost in thought. So this Netta was Ammirra's mother, which explained a lot. There was more behind Ammirra than he had believed so. _And chances are, her sister doesn't even know everything that's messed Ammirra up._ Hao's mind drifted back to when he had, for the first time, seen a side of Ammirra he didn't think could exist. Ammirra, he now believed, had more layers then this. _And to think she still gets upset when she thinks about that woman being her mother, she really is a fragile thing wrapping itself in a seemingly tough shell._ He laughed, yet this vulnerable side didn't push him away from her, it attracted him more. Something he didn't understand, what was his fascination with the girl? Why did he wish to comfort her… he shook his head. These where weak thoughts and he couldn't let himself become weak.

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Sutara got back to her camp and immediately crawled into her sleeping bag. When she woke up the next morning Ammirra had already got up and made them a simple breakfast. The two of them ate silently and decided to go back to the inn. Ammirra had once again drawn into herself.

Upon reaching the inn they separated. Sutara stayed in the yard while Ammirra left again to see what Hikyrrou was up to. It was still extremely early so she probably wouldn't be training with horro yet. "Ammirra-sensei?"

"Oh, there you are Hikyrrou." Ammirra said, turning to look at her pupil coming out of the forest.

"Ammirra-sensei, your back already?" the bluenette looked confused.

"Yep, have you eaten yet?" Ammirra put her hands behind her head and glanced back in the direction of the inn. "And what are you doing out here?"

"I was going to wait for Horro and his sister, Pirika to get up. Then I sensed you arriving so I came back out." Hikyrrou tuned back towards the woods. "Pirika moved Horro from the inn because his first opponent is Yoh."

"I see," Ammirra shrugged, "Well I'll come and check up on you latter Hikyrrou." With that Ammirra turned back towards the inn and left her pupil behind.

Hikyrrou stood there for a second before heading back into the woods to Horro's camp. Pirika was just finishing making breakfast and yelling at Horro, who was still in the tent. "Get up you lazy ass! Unless you don't want breakfast!" Immediately he was out of the tent.

Hikyrrou laughed. "Morning sleepy head, how can you stand to sleep in so late?"

"Late!" Horro yelled, "Its not even five in the morning!" Horro snapped as he retrieved his breakfast from his sister.

"Your sleeping habits are horrible Horro. You sleep entirely too much, and when you're not sleeping your eating. Lucky you didn't get fat with how lazy you are." Hikyrrou rolled her eyes.

"Hey! That was uncalled for, why are you so bitchy this morning." Horro asked between mouthfuls.

Again Hikyrrou rolled her eyes, "Ammirra-sensei is back, and I think she's in a bad mood."

"Well that's no reason to take it out on me," Horro complained as he ate.

"You have less than a minute to finish eating before I throw you into a living hell." Hikyrrou's eyes narrowed menacingly.

Horro hurriedly gulped down the rest of his food, gagging when he over stuffed his mouth.

Hikyrrou waited impatiently as he choked down the last bit of his hurried breakfast. When he was finished she walked up to him and pulled him up by his ear. "There will be no more of your slacking Horro Horro."

"Owww, Hikyrrou let go of my ear!" Horro whined.

"Oh shut up you lazy fat bottomed fuck."

"Hey! Don't call onii-chan that!" Pirika yelled at Hikyrrou.

"Lets just start training." Horro said as Hikyrrou finally let go of his ear.

"You want to enter the living hell already?" Hikyrrou laughed. "Well alright then. Run."

"What, where for how long."

"As long and as far as you can before I catch up. You get a ten minute head start." Hikyrrou dismissed him with a wave of her hand. "What are you waiting for? Get going!"

Horro Horro hurriedly departed form the camp. Pirika turned back to Hikyrrou, "You know he's going to slack off."

"Pfft. I'd like to see him try."

Ten minutes later Hikyrrou was sitting up in a tree sleeping. "Um, aren't you going to go after him?"

Hikyrrou opened one eye. "I'll give him another ten minutes."

"If you give him that much more time you don't have a chance in hell to catch him. You don't even know what way he went!'

"Doesn't matter, it won't take me more than a few seconds to find out."

"No ones that fast!"

"Wanna bet?" Hikyrrou jumped down from her tree. Then she sped up and surrounded the younger girl with after images. "How's this?" all of her images said in unison.

Pirika stared, "How the hell to you do that!"

"Its easy really, well easy for me anyway." Hikyrrou stopped moving. "I'm bored so I think I'm going to go see how your brothers doing," and she disappeared.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Horro was running, he had been running now for twenty minutes. _She doesn't really expect to be able to catch up to me does she? Hey what's that?_ He had seen a blur out of the corner of his eye. Then when he had reached the top of the hill he stumbled to a stop. Hikyrrou was standing at the top of the hill, hands on her hips. "What took you so _long_?" Hikyrrou rolled her eyes.

Horro stared at her for a minute, "How the hell did you do that!"

"I just did, don't ask questions," Then Hikyrrou went quite. "Who's there?"

A girl with blue hair and black streaks stepped out from behind a nearby tree. "Hikyrrou?"

Hikyrrou turned to face the girl. For a minute she just stared at the newcomer, then her eyes widened in shock. "Kassianna!"

The new girl nodded and Hikyrrou moved towards her. "Its been three years Hiks." Then she looked down.

Hikyrrou stopped, "What's wrong Nea-san?"

"Kasser."

"What do you mean."

"Someone named Netta showed up at the valley, Kasser left with her."

"Did you say Netta?" Ammirra walked around the corner, her hair seemed darker than usual.

Kassianna turned to Ammirra, "Ammirra-sama! You know her?"

Ammirra nodded, " She's my teachers double…"

"What!" Hikyrrou looked at her teacher, shocked. "My brother went with her! Does that mean?"

Ammirra shook her head sadly, "Yes Hikyrrou, it probably does." She looked at her pupil, "I'm sorry, but as of now, your brother is an enemy."

Hikyrrou looked at her feet, close to tears. Horro took a step forward, "Um what's going on."

Ammirra looked at him, "You had plans to train with my pupil I know, but you should head back and do what ever training your sister wants you to. Hikyrrou isn't in a position to help you at the moment."

Horro stayed there for a minute looking at each of the female shamans in turn before he sighed and ran back the way he had come. Ammirra looked at Hikyrrou, then at her sister before she too left.

"Hikyrrou?" Kassianna looked at the younger girl worriedly.

"Ammirra-sensei is right," Hikyrrou looked up, choking on her words. "He is my enemy now, there's nothing I can do about that now."

Kassianna looked shocked, "But he's our brother!"

"He _was_ our brother, but if he is on the side of yang we can't consider him that any longer."

"How can you say that! He _is_ our fucking brother! What the hell is wrong with you Hikyrrou!"

"I'm just protecting myself! Damn it Kassianna, look he's probably bent on killing us now that he's on _their_ side!"

Their shouting match halted and they stared at the ground. Then Kassianna broke the awkward silence, "Your probably right, but I can't just forget that he was our brother."

Hikyrrou looked up, and to her sister's surprise, she smiled. "Of course not, your too stubborn to give up on him like that." She laughed nervously.

Kassianna laughed to. "Yeah, your right. I am stubborn… just like you."

"Well you're more stubborn and you know it!"

Kassianna went up to her sister gave her a hug. "You wanna bet on that."

"No, that's okay, I don't wanna put you out the money."

Both of them laughed, seemingly at a joke only they shared. "It has been to long since we've seen each other. It's so horrible that we meet again after our brother betrays us…"

Hikyrrou drew away. "Lets not think about that Nea-san. It was his choice, and nothing we can do will change that."

"Sometimes I wonder if you shouldn't be the older sister," and they both laughed.

"Nea-san," Hikyrrou was looking at her feet again. "Where you mad when I left the valley without saying goodbye?"

"Why ask that all the sudden Hiks, that was years ago."

"I can't help but wonder, and I wanted to know if you and mom where mad at me."

Kassianna put on a serious face, "Of course we where mad, all of us where mad, not just me and mom." Then she smiled, "But that doesn't matter, its only natural that we would be mad, but we forgave you Hikyrrou. Mom, Dad and I did."

Hikyrrou looked back up at her sister, crying now, "Thank you Nea-san…"

Kassianna walked up to her sister and gave her a big hug. The two sisters stood there for a minute before Hikyrrou broke away. "Well I should get back to the inn…"

"Alright then, I'll see you again soon Hikyrrou."

"Bye then," And Hikyrrou turned and walked back to the inn. When she made it back she saw Ammirra standing by a tree. As soon as Ammirra spotted her she walked over to her. "Sensei…"

"Listen Hikyrrou, I know how you feel. Don't worry about it," Her teacher cut in.

"What do you mean by that Sensei?" Hikyrrou's curiosity got the better of her.

"When I said I knew Netta, I don't just know her," Ammirra paused for a second. "We're related… Netta is my mother." Ammirra was avoiding her pupil's eyes. That on its own was unsettling enough without the new knowledge of Netta and Ammirra being related. Then Ammirra looked up, "And she killed my father before my fist birthday."

Hikyrrou looked at her teacher, stunned, "She killed him…" Ammirra just nodded.

"I try not to dwell on it but its not that easy, listen Hikyrrou," Ammirra went very serious. "I'm telling you this to make sure you don't make the same mistake I did. You have a sister who cares about you and a family back in the valley, and you have friends here. So don't do what I did and think you can deal with it all on your own, keeping to your self will just cause more pain. Don't be afraid to open up to those around you Hikyrrou."

At first Hikyrrou was speechless, and when she did get her voice back she only managed to say three words, "Thank you Sensei."

Sutara then came out of the inn, "You guys gonna come in and eat any time soon."

Both girls laughed and followed Sutara inside.

Wow, this chappie is sad…

Well that's it for this chappie and again, I am sooooo freaking sorry about taking so long

**Ja Ne**


	10. Chapter 10

**Disclaimer: **I don't own shaman king of course. Just OCs

Well this is the tenth chappie. This fic is going to be extremely long now that I think about it… Oh well. Hope you enjoy this chappie

**Chapter Ten**

Between 

Hikyrrou, Sutara and Ammirra finished all their matches easily, without a single loss. Banira on the other hand had decided not to enter the tournament, insisting that it would be unfair to the other shamans. Which it probably would have been considering Banira could control time itself. Kassianna had also entered the tournament to her sister's surprise. She had done well to, with two wins and one tie. Now they waited till it was time to go to America, and Patch Village. They didn't have to find it since Banira, Sutara and Ammirra all knew where it was. Kassianna visited her sister at the inn frequently but preferred to camp outside of Tokyo.

Eventually Hikyrrou did get to training with Horro, and at times Horro wished he hadn't agreed to train with her. Though there was the rare day when he found it was better then doing what his sister demanded. On one such day, when Hikyrrou and him where supposed to be running pretty much around Tokyo Horro found himself and Hikyrrou on a bus heading out of the city. "Where exactly are we going anyway?" Horro heard himself ask.

Hikyrrou didn't look at him, "Just a nice place outside the city. To tell you the truth I _hate _being in the city. As a matter of fact I hate technology, but since you can't run fast enough the best way to get there is by bus."

"You hate Technology?"

"Yeah, loath it. I come from a place where everyone hates it. We live the old fashion way. Off the land and stuff with no electricity." Hikyrrou's eyes where fixed on the changing landscape outside.

"Really? You grew up with no electricity?" Horro was now looking out the window as well.

"Yup, up until we decided to stay at the Asakura household I hadn't even encountered a light bulb."

Horro Horro looked at her shocked, "What! But you said you left home three years ago, you must have seen something of technology then!"

Hikyrrou shook her head, "Ammirra-sensei hates technology even more than I do. She even goes as far as to consider Humans and Shamans a different species. Though she's not as bad as somebody else I know. She leaves them be as long as they leave her be."

"So you're saying she hates Manta because he's not a shaman?"

Again she shook her head, "No, she believes if you can see spirits then if you train hard enough you can at least become a low level shaman."

Horro laughed, "Manta a shaman! Dude I don't see that happening."

Hikyrrou smiled, "Neither do I but hey, you never know." Then she turned away from the window, "We get off here."

The bus was slowing down just outside the city now and Hikyrrou ushered Horro off when it stopped. They struggled past a crowd of people getting on the bus to go into the city. Hikyrrou kept them walking away from civilization for over an hour before she finally turned back to Horro. "Almost there, few people know about this place even though it's so close to the city." She then walked through a cluster of bamboo stalks and the two blunettes found themselves in a small clearing with a stream running through the centre. The floor of the clearing was covered with flowers and the Animals didn't even move as the shamans entered. A panda looked up at them then continued eating the bamboo it had in its paws.

Horro let out a low whistle. "I'm surprised a place like this exist so close to the city at all."

"There are nicer spots but they take a little longer to get to," Hikyrrou shrugged.

Suddenly Hikyrrou was flung across the clearing into the stream. "Trying to slack off? I don't think so." Ammirra walked into the clearing.

"A-Ammirra-s-sensei!" Hikyrrou stuttered as she got back to her feet. Before she could get out of the stream the water surged and enveloped her, throwing her to Ammirra's feet.

"Did you honestly think you could get away with so much slaking Hikyrrou? Your already getting away from regular training hours and you decide to skip a day any way? Fool." Ammirra went to kick her pupil but Hikyrrou was ready and dodged the kick.

"But Sensei, we still have nearly a month before we have to go to America! And I won all my fights easily. What's the harm in taking a break," she ducked as Ammirra went to punch her.

"You're already getting a break. You can't afford to slack off any more, not now," and Ammirra brought out her quarter staff aiming yet another blow at Hikyrrou. Again Hikyrrou dodged but she had not been expecting Ammirra to send the wind at her in quick succession to the staff. She winced as it cut into her face. Then suddenly Ammirra stopped and her staff disappeared. She turned to Horro, "My student will be resuming normal training tomorrow. Have a nice day." Then she turned on her heel and walked away.

Horro stared, "What was that all about?"

Hikyrrou shook her head, one hand to her check. "I have no idea." She winced slightly.

Horro turned back to her, eyes catching the blood trickling down her arm from the cut on her check. "Are you okay? We should go back and get that treated."

Hikyrrou shook her head, "This is nothing, it just stings a little." She withdrew her hand, un-phased by the fact that her hand was covered in blood.

"What are you talking about! Your hand is covered in blood Hikyrrou!" Horro was looking at her in shock.

"I've had worse." She shrugged.

"You guys are insane! She was actually trying to hurt you!"

"That's nothing. She's done worse to me and I've got her pretty bad a couple of times." Hikyrrou went to the stream and splashed the water in her face, washing away the blood.

Horro moved beside her, "What exactly do you mean by pretty bad?"

Again she shrugged, "Nearly cut her arm off at the shoulder."

Horro stared, eyes narrowed. "That should have killed her."

"Nope, according to her it was merely a minor flesh wound. Though I was of the same mind as you then."

"She's nuts!" Horro said as he sat down on the grass exasperated.

Hikyrrou's eyes narrowed and she glared at him. "Careful what you say about Ammirra-sensei," She warned him.

"How can you train like that?" Horro inquired.

"Its just how I grew up. Ammirra-sensei has been my teacher since I was five." She sat down beside him, staring at the surface of the stream but not really seeing it. "It's just a way of life for me now. Though there are still times when I wish I hadn't agreed to train with her. All in all though, I'm glad I did. I would never have left the valley if I hadn't. I would never have met Sutara, and Banira. Or you and Pirika and everyone else."

"Don't you miss your family?"

She looked at him then, "All the time. But its not like I'll never see them again. The valley is my ancestral home as well as Ammirra's. We'll go back after the tournament."

"Is that it? After the tournament is over you'll just go back? You wont visit those you've met here?"

Hikyrrou blinked, then giggled. "I'll stay in contact Horro, just as long as I don't have to come near the city again."

"You really hate technology don't you."

"Like I said on the bus."

"Then why did you even bother going on the bus?"

"Because if we had walked we would still be in the city right now."

They sat there and talked until the sun was at its peak. "We should probably head back, catching the bus we probably will barely make it back for when your sister is expecting us."

So they walked to the bus stop and waited fifteen minutes for the next bus. Grudgingly Hikyrrou stepped in behind Horro and they sat near the back. An hour later they stepped off the bus a couple of blocks away from Yoh's place. Looking at the suns position Hikyrrou cursed and hurried Horro along.

"That Bus is way to slow!" she complained and they half ran to Horro's camp. She put her hand to her check, hissing since the new scab had ruptured and she was bleeding again. Fifteen minutes later they arrived at the camp.

Horro turned to her panting, amazed at the fact that she wasn't even winded. "Exactly how are you going to explain that to Anna without her figuring you out?"

Hikyrrou shrugged, "Exactly how we have managed to hide the fact that we are shamans."

Horro frowned, "How have you guys managed that anyway?"

Again Hikyrrou shrugged, "I have no idea."

"Horro!" Pirika ran up to them. "There you are!"

"Pirika, we aren't late. We got her precisely when I said we would," Hikyrrou said to the girl, then winced because she had again reopened the cut on her cheek.

Pirika turned to her glaring, looking as if she was about to try and bite Hikyrrou's head off. Then she stopped, starring at the older girls cheek. "Hikyrrou! What happened?"

Hikyrrou shrugged, "Some asshole tried to jump us with a knife." Pirika gasped. "Don't worry, Horro took care of him." Pirika turned to her brother and Hikyrrou winked at him from behind his sister.

"Are you okay Onii-chan?" Pirika scanned him for any cuts.

"Fine Pirika, He barely managed to cut Kiru before I knocked him to the ground." Horro shrugged casually.

"Actually its kinda embarrassing that he caught me off guard." Hikyrrou added, embellishing on her lie.

Pirika turned back to Hikyrrou, "You should get that tended, it looks bad."

"We didn't have anything with us and we didn't want to be late." Hikyrrou shrugged.

Pirika looked at her for a second then ran back to the tent, bringing back a first aid kit. "I may not be very experienced with this kind of stuff but I can at least disinfect it and put a bandaged on if you'll let me."

Hikyrrou looked at the younger girl then sighed. "All right then."

Pirika set about cleaning the cut on Hikyrrou's face. When she was done she put on a bandage and started repacking her kit. "Are you guys coming to Yoh's for dinner?"

Pirika looked up, "I guess so, and I know they don't know about you and your pals being shamans so I wont say anything. And I guess we can say that I gave Horro the day off so you guys went somewhere. That way they wont suspect anything."

Hikyrrou smiled, Pirika was really a very considerate person. "Thanks Pirika." Then she remembered what her teacher had said in the clearing. "I wont be able to train with your brother anymore though, I think we will be leaving soon."

Pirika looked back at her as they stood up. "Why, there's still weeks before you have to go to America."

"Because if we leave when we are supposed to then Anna will suspect something so its better for us to leave now. We will probably go a ways from the city and camp out there for awhile."

"Hey come on you two! I'm hungry! Lets get to Yoh's already!" Horro complained.

They looked at each other and laughed as they followed Horo.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Ammirra kept walking, turning herself away from both the city and her pupil. She wondered what kind of story Hikyrrou would come up with to explain the cut on her cheek. She knew Horro and his sister would be at Yoh's place for supper that night. But she didn't want to be there. She wanted some peace, and she needed to be out of that abominable city. She let her mind wonder as she walked. She had spent the last month trying to rebuild the crumbling wall she had erected in her first life around herself. Trying to regain the security that she had started to lose a thousand years ago. But no matter how hard she tried she couldn't stop the wall form falling apart, and this time around she knew she wouldn't be able to make a new one to replace it. This time she would not be able to hide behind something. She would have to face the monsters on the other side of the wall. Even knowing this she still attempted to keep the wall standing, but for some reason every time it seemed she might actually succeed she saw his face._ Why does his face haunt me so_?_ Why does it tare apart these walls like this_? She asked herself repeatedly. But she knew the answer,_ its because I let him get to close, I let him_. _And he stole my first kiss_. She shook her head, she couldn't seem to shake that moment out of her mind. Just when it seemed she could let it be she was seeing it again.

She needed to clear her mind, to sort through emotions that had finally broken through. Emotions she no longer understood. She had let herself cry in front of Hao, he was the only male that she had ever cried in front of since she was a baby. The only other people to have ever seen her cry were her sister and her sensei. Everyone else was long dead.

The last time her emotions had crashed in on her like this she had eventually lost control of herself and nearly killed herself and everyone around her. Banira and Sutara had barely managed to stop her. That had been her second life, five thousand years ago now. Now she was on her seventh life and it threatened to happen again. She had only been born the first time five thousand and five hundred years ago. Not nearly as far back as Hao thought. And she didn't even have as many lives under her belt as her sister had. The only time she had reincarnated after five hundred years was for her second life. And in that life she was struck with the disease for the first time, now it came back in all her lives at some point, killing her eventually. Then she would not be born again for a thousand years instead of five hundred. In her fifth she had finally found a cure, but it had already been to late to teach it to any one since the last piece fell into place as she lay dieing. And the life after that Hao had refused to learn it and she could not find either Banira or Sutara in time. So she again fell victim to the disease.

This time would be different, she told herself. This time she would be able to teach the cure to someone before the disease struck her. She would finally be rid of it. _If I don't get my self killed before then_. She shuddered. Why did it have to be now that she lost the protection she had so carefully placed for herself. _But then why did I draw into myself in the first place_? _I would probably be better off if I took my own advice and let others help me, but I don't know how to let anyone in anymore_. She stopped, someone was coming.

She turned in time to see Hao materialize in flames and quickly closed herself off. She watched him walk towards her, stopping when he was barely a foot away.

"What do you want?" she inquired, keeping her face a blank mask.

His face was just as blank as hers, "To talk."

"Oh? About what?" curiosity momentarily flickered in her eyes.

"Just to talk. We haven't really talked truthfully to each other before. And I'm curious to know more about the Ammirra who hides herself in a cold shell." His smirk returned to his face.

She frowned, she could easily refuse, but he would continue to bug her about it, and something compelled her to talk to him, she wanted to drag him out as well. She knew that there where things beyond the Hao everyone else saw. He seemed fascinated with her and she wanted to know why. She sat down, "What do you want to know?"

How looked at her thoughtfully then sat down beside her, "For starters, exactly when was your first life?"

"Five thousand five hundred years ago."

"So this is your Tenth life then," Hao stated.

Ammirra shook her head, "No, it's only my seventh life."

He looked at her, carefully keeping his confusion hidden, "How's that possible?"

She laughed, "Because of the way I died in all my lives since my second. I was only reincarnated in the usual time period once. After that its been every one thousand years for me. No to mention I've never made it past twenty-seven."

"And your okay with telling me all this?"

She shrugged, "I don't really have very much choice in the matter unless I want to doom myself again."

His eyes narrowed, "Exactly what do you mean by that?"

She met his gaze, "It's a long story."

He didn't look away, "I'm listening."

Done! Ooooooh I wonder what the long story is… wait no I don't. I ALREADY KNOW! Hmm how forgetful can you get? Hey… wait a minute…. This is the tenth chapter…. Cool! Well imma gonna start on the next chapter right…… after I eat something.

**JA NE!**


	11. Chapter 11

**Disclaimer:** I don't own shaman king (cries) but I own the plot for this fic and the OCs.

FOOD IS GOOD! Well now that I've got that cleared up on with the show…. I mean fic.

Chapter Eleven America 

Ammirra met his gaze, "It's a long story."

Hao didn't look away, "I'm listening."

Ammirra took a deep breath and launched into her story, "Well I have a feeling that Sutara already told you who Netta is so I can skip that. Well after that day in the tree I didn't see her again until my second life…

Ammirra turned, behind her was Netta, her mother. There was no mistaking that, even though she had only really seen her once. "What do you want!" she tried to stay calm but it was difficult.

_"Ammirra my daughter, why do you cling to that woman, why do you reject me your own mother. Come with me child and you can be free. No man will try to trick you again if you choose to come with me girl." Netta's arms were thrown wide as if to embrace Ammirra._

_Ammirra stared at her mother in shock. She backed away from her, "I don't believe you! I can take care of myself!"_

_The woman raised an eyebrow, "Oh can you? Then why do you listen to Banira?" She still held her arms out but not quite as open._

_Ammirra backed away even more, "Get away from me! I can't trust you!"_

_"And who told you that? Have I ever done anything to hurt you?" Her arms dropped to her sides now._

_"You left me and my sister!" Ammirra stopped, now getting angry. Her hair started growing dark._

_"I didn't have much of a choice believe me. I would never willingly leave my own children." She took a step toward her daughter._

_Ammirra shook her head, "Nea-san says I can't trust you, she says you're a horrible person and you care nothing for us!"_

_"Has she ever given you a reason for that? I think she just wants to use you." Netta shook her head as if thinking about how sad it was._

_"NO! Nea-san isn't like that! She raised me not you!"_

_"And has she ever told you why your father was never there?" Netta took another step towards her._

_Ammirra took a step forward, her hair very dark now. "He died. Don't you dare talk about him! He cared about us! He would have been there if he hadn't been killed!"_

_"And have you ever wondered who killed him?" Her green eyes flashed evilly but other wise her expression remained unchanged._

_Ammirra stared in shock as she realized just who her father's murderer had been. "How could you?" she stepped back again, "He was your husband… HOW COULD YOU DO SUCH A HORRIBLE THING!" Ammirra's hair was almost black and the wind was starting to pick up menacingly._

_"He cared nothing for me or you, he would have killed you so I killed him and then I had to flee so that you could have a chance. So that they would chase me instead. Your sister went bad like him and I couldn't do anything about it, but I couldn't take you with me then either. You would have been killed." Netta shrugged as if what she had done was a naturally and logical choice._

_"Liar." Ammirra was looking at her feet now, her face covered by her hair. "Nothing but lies. You killed him because it suited you."_

_Netta looked furious, "I LEFT YOU AND YOUR BITCH SISTER ALIVE AND NOW YOU CALL ME A LIAR! Fine then you little bitch, I'll just have to kill you." Her hand raised to strike Ammirra._

_Ammirra stayed where she was, "even if you did I would come back in five hundred years anyway. But you wouldn't. Banira would kill you. She's stronger then you and you know it."_

_"Why you ingrate!" Netta closed the space between her and Ammirra in an instant. She slapped her daughter then her hands fastened on the girl's neck. Ammirra didn't struggle. "I'll kill you and when you are reincarnated I'll kill you again. I'll kill your sister and that bitch too!" Her grip tightened but still her daughter did not struggle._

_"Ammirra-sama!" A little girl had just walked through the trees behind them._

_Netta let go of her daughter and looked at the child, "Don't interfere you little brat." She moved to strike the girl but Ammirra had moved between her mother and the child. _

_"Leave her out of this!" She signalled the little girl to run and the child hesitantly obeyed. Ammirra's hair was now jet-black. "You can kill me but leave those with one life alone you fucking monster!" Her face was still hidden but her voice was cold as ice._

_"Oh, you don't want me to harm the little girl?" Netta smiled evilly. "Fine then, I'LL JUST KILL THE WHOLE VALLEY!"_

_Ammirra looked up now, and her grey eyes where no longer kind and calm like they usually where. They where filled with anger and hate. She felt something inside her snap, like it had when she had killed for the first time. She ignored it. "YOU WILL NOT TOUCH THEM!" and the wind burst into a violent storm. The storm quickly progressed into a tornado with winds that could slice metal in a second. Then there was the rain that swirled with the wind. The storm was so unexpected that it caught Netta and nearly severed her arm, cutting her in numerous other places. Quickly the woman fled, but when Ammirra tried to stop the storm she found she had lost control of it all together. For a minute she struggled with it then she found herself revelling in the power of the storm._

_She grew afraid of the power too. It was a power so vast and unexpected and she had no way to stop it. The trees around her fell and she heard the little girl scream in terror. Finally she gained control of herself and collapsed to her knees shaking, the sky instantly clear again. Her hair was no longer black but nearly white. Immediately she looked around her to make sure the little girl was all right and was relieved to see the girl a few feet away beside a fallen tree. Shaking, she got to her feet and moved to the child._

_She held out a hand, "Are you all right little one?" The girl nodded and took her hand. "I'm sorry it I scared you."_

_The little girl shook her head, "That lady was going to hurt you. Are you okay Ammirra-sama?" she was tugging on Ammirra's hand as they stood stationary in the middle of the fallen trees._

_Ammirra looked down at the child and forced herself to smile, "I'm fine, come I'll take you to your parents."_

_The girl smiled back at her, "Kay!" and she pulled Ammirra in the direction of the square._

"That was the third time it happened, but it was the first time it went to that extent." Ammirra told him at the end of the story.

He looked at her, "Third time?"

She nodded, "The first time I met my mother it happened too. You've seen the large gashes in the tree and ground there haven't you?"

He nodded, "And it happened when you killed that man." Ammirra didn't move. "And after the third time?"

"It happened to me once more, but that time it went as far as to turn on me as well. I was in the centre of a death storm that would have killed everyone in the valley and myself." Ammirra's hair was a paler shade than usual.

"Would have? How'd you stop it?"

"I didn't, as I said the storm turned on me as well. Sutara couldn't even get close, and Banira barely managed to get in and stop me before there would be no chance to save any of us."

"How did she stop you?"

Ammirra laughed half-heartedly, "A trick that I know and you still have to learn."

"Hmm? And what's that?" Hao looked at her curiously.

"Your not ready for it. You don't even know the basic trick that leads into it." Ammirra stood up.

Hao rose as well, "And I take it your not going to bother showing it to me?"

"No, I want to get back and go to bed. So if we're done talking I'll be going now." She turned away form him.

Hao grabbed her arm, "Answer two more questions."

Ammirra looked back at him, "What?"

He let go of her arm, "First, why is your hair a different shade at the moment and second, how can you lose control like that?"

Ammirra looked thoughtful for a moment, then she sat down again, "My hair is like a reflection of my feelings in a way. It's like that as a safe guard. So that I can be stopped before I really lose control and nothing can stop it. When it gets to pitch black then I'll most likely lose control out of anger. Pale is just when I'm afraid and when it goes white I might lose control again in order to protect myself. My hair tells other things but those are the two that need to be watched out for." She was looking at her feet now with her arms around her knees. "Banira-sensei told me that for some reason, unlike other elementals, my emotions control my power more than my will does. So if I'm angry and I'm trying to heal someone its ten times harder then if I'm worried for that person. To get the power to work right I have to fight with myself."

Hao remained standing, absorbing this new information, "Does your sister know? And why have I never seen your hair change before?"

Ammirra stood up again, still looking at her feet, "She knows about my hair of course, she knows all the shades better than I do. But I never told her about my power. As for the part of you never seeing my hair change, that because I cast aside my emotions in order to try and keep myself form losing control again. But unfortunately I don't think its going to work, keeping them locked away like that will just make it worse when they get out." She looked up at the sun, it was already setting. She hadn't realized how long she had been talking.

Hao closed the gap between them and looked her right in the eye, "So if your hair tells your emotions, and whatever you where doing to keep your emotions back is failing, tell me, what colour would your hair turn if you where embarrassed?"

Ammirra frowned, "I don't remember. You forget, my hair hasn't changed colour since my second life. Besides, why would you want to know?" Then she scowled, "Hey, I've now answered more then two questions, this talk is over Hao."

Hao smirked then he suddenly leaned in and kissed her. Ammirra had no time to react because almost as soon as it began it was over. She looked at him, unable to keep back the blush and he smirked again. Then he grabbed one of her bangs lightly and his smirk grew wider, "Pink, very interesting."

Ammirra saw the single pink streak in her hair as Hao let go and walked away. Then he disappeared in his flames and was gone. Ammirra stood there, staring at the spot he had disappeared. Then she finally turned away and disappeared in a whirlwind.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Hikyrrou, Horro-Horro and Pirka where just arriving at Yoh's place. "I'm gonna go to my room first okay." Hikyrrou said as they entered the building.

"Kay, we'll be in the dinning room," Pirika chirped after her. So her and Horro went to the dinning room and where greeted by Manta, Yoh and Ryu. Ren sat at the table looking as if he wished he wasn't there.

"Hey guys!" Horro said as he sat down.

"Hey Horro, so what did Pirika have you do today?" Yoh asked casually.

"Nothing, I gave him the day off and he went somewhere with Hikyrrou," Pirika chirped.

Everyone at the table blinked. "So that's where she's been all day," Manta said. "But we still don't know where Sutara, Banira and Ammirra went."

"Probably out shopping or something since today's their last day in the city. Hikyrrou tells me they're leaving tomorrow," Pirika told them.

"Are they? They never said anything to us," Anna said as she entered the room.

Hikyrrou entered the room just after her, "Hey, so what's for supper?"

Anna turned to her, "Your leaving tomorrow?"

Hikyrrou met her gaze, "Yeah I think so. Ammirra-san didn't say anything to you?"

Anna was looking at the bandage on her cheek, "No she didn't. What happened to you?"

Hikyrrou moved into the room and sat beside Pirika, "Some guy with a knife tried to jump me and Horro as we got of the bus on our way back."

"Are you okay?" Ryu asked, taking her hands in his.

Hikyrrou pulled away irritably, "I'm fine, he barely managed to get me before Horro hit him."

"Is that what happened?" Ammirra said as she walked into the room, her hair back to normal. "I saw you awhile ago and I was wondering about it but you where gone before I had a chance to ask."

"Ammirra-san, why didn't you just call out?" Hikyrrou inquired, playing along with her sensei.

"Because you probably wouldn't have heard me and someone I didn't expect to see showed up." She walked up to Anna and pulled something out of her pocket. "Here, that's what I owe you, we're leaving first thing in the morning." Anna took the money form her and left to put it somewhere.

Just when Anna left both Banira and Sutara entered the room. "So how was your day Ammirra?" Sutara asked her little sister.

Ammirra turned to her, "An odd one, and yours Nea-san?"

Sutara shrugged, "Rather boring actually, but what made your day so odd?"

Ammirra shrugged as well, "He showed up again."

Sutara's green eyes studied her sister carefully and she frowned. "What did he want?"

"That's what makes it so odd, he wanted to talk."

Hikyrrou looked shocked, "What? He wanted to _talk_, that not like him."

Ammirra turned to Hikyrrou, "I know." Then she looked at everyone gathered in the room, "I'm tired though so I think I'll go to bed, you shouldn't stay up to long either Hikyrrou."

Hikyrrou nodded, "Kay, I'll see you in the morning Ammirra-san."

Ammirra walked past Anna as she left the room and headed upstairs to sleep.

"I think I'll retire to, How bout you Banira," Sutara turned to the younger looking girl. Banira nodded and they both left the room.

"What was that about?" Horro turned to Hikyrrou. "Who where you guys talking about.

Hikyrrou shrugged, "I guy Ammirra-san knows." She waited for Anna to take her seat then she started eating. "Look I don't know, I just know Ammirra-san doesn't like him and he is a pushy bastard that's all."

After she finished eating Hikyrrou went to bed as well to escape the constant questions.

-------------------------------------

The next day they left before any one got up and then went to the coast where they made camp in an area uninhabited. That's where they stayed until it was time for them to leave for America. Ammirra and Hikyrrou spared a few times, And Ammirra even sparred with her sister once and she managed to win.

On the dawn of the day they where to depart Hikyrrou found she could no longer sleep so she got up and stared at the ocean. She was wondering what it would be like in America. She had gone to quite a few places since she had left the valley but all of them where on the eastern half of the world. Now she was going west.

"Nervous," Ammirra sat beside her.

"Kind of," Hikyrrou looked over at her teacher. She noticed that her teachers hair seemed more blue that usual. "Ammirra-sensei?"

Ammirra remained looking at the ocean as Hikyrrou had been. "What?"

"Why is your hair more blue than before?"

Ammirra looked at her student now, "Huh? More blue?" she grabbed one of her bangs and looked at it, "Hmm, probably since I just woke up and I'm still a little tired." Then she stood up, "Doesn't matter though, lets get going."

Hikyrrou stood up too, "What about Sutara and Banira-sama?"

"Where up," Sutara said form behind her. Hikyrrou jumped slightly which caused Ammirra and Sutara to laugh. Then the four of them looked out at the ocean. Banira simply vanished, while Sutara disappeared in flamed and Ammirra in a whirlwind. Hikyrrou hesitated for a moment then she two vanished in a flash of light. Even though she waited she still found herself there on the coast of America before Ammirra and Sutara. Only Banira got there before her. A second later Sutara appeared followed closely by Ammirra.

"Well we're all here, so how bout some breakfast?" Ammirra said sitting down.

"Sounds good to me," Sutara chirped, "Hikyrrou, why don't you go and get us some fire wood?"

Hikyrrou nodded and put down her bag, "Back in a flash."

Ammirra laughed, "And gone in one too." She looked at the after image her student had left behind. "I wonder how her sister is getting here, and Yoh and his group."

-------------------------------------------

Later that day, back in Japan, Yoh, Ren, Ryu and Horro-Horro got on a plan just after meeting Hao for the first time. None of them even suspected that Hao had something to do with Ammirra, not even Horro who knew about Ammirra and them being Shamans.

As they flew overhead of the spot Ammirra and them had made camp for the day they where shot down, and they spiralled out of control, landed nearly a hundred Kilometres away. As they walked, trying to find a town to get supplies in, Horro couldn't help but wonder how Hikyrrou was faring and how she had decided to come to America. If she was there or not already or if she was nearby. That was when he saw a flash out of the corner of his eye.

Okay, FINISHED! Cool, eleven chapters. And now they are all in America. Sorry if the pace seems a little fast but the main part of the fic takes place way later on, and that's when things really start to change.

**Ja Ne!**


	12. Chapter 12

**Disclaimer:** of course I don't own Shaman king. That would just be messed up.

Well now I start the twelfth chapter. And I don't even know whats going to happen in it at the moment. Which is kinda sad I must add. And I just rhymed which is really weird…

Well anyway enjoy the chappie

Chapter Twelve Mastery Beyond Boundaries 

Horro looked around but could see no one. However he had the feeling that Hikyrrou had passed them. It was a good thing she didn't stop since he was sure Ammirra would be mad at her if she revealed them now. It was also a good thing he hadn't called out, Hikyrrou would probably have beat his head in if he had.

That was when they reached the oasis that Yoh had spotted while they where falling. Horro immediately jumped into the water. Which of course caused a fight since Ren had wanted to drink form the pool.

Hikyrrou was watching them from up in a tree and was hard put not to laugh. She couldn't blow her cover now. Ammirra had sent her to keep tabs on the group but she still didn't know why. Of course she didn't mind since it gave her something to do and it was pretty funny. Eventually Horro separated himself form the group walking into the trees to be by himself.

Hikyrrou decided to follow, since she was curious to find out what the other shaman had been up to. She jumped through the trees till she was almost right above him, all without making a sound. "Hiya Horro," she chirped and jumped out of the tree landing a few feet in front of him.

Horro jumped, "H-hey Hikyrrou. Where did you come from?"

"Out of the tree silly," Hikyrrou said, grinning.

"And where are the others?" Horro asked.

"At the camp nearly a hundred kilometres away form here. We saw a plane going down and Ammirra was wondering if maybe you were on it."

"So you came to check it out then?" Horro said, sitting at the base of a nearby tree.

Hikyrrou shook her head, "Nope, Banira-sama said that you guys where on it so I came to check how you guys where doing. I've been sitting in a tree waiting for you to go off on your own since you guys got to the oasis."

"That's just kind of odd Kiru." Horro said, closing his eyes.

"Hey I couldn't just walk up and say 'hey guys, what are you doing here?' now could I." Hikyrrou sat down next to him now. "And I was expecting you to go off by yourself eventually because I was sure you saw me as I ran past."

Horro nodded, "I did, though you where just a blur. The others didn't notice"

"Of course they didn't. The only reason why you did is because you have been on the guard for me running past ever since that first time we trained." Hikyrrou laughed. "Most people wouldn't even see the blur. Of course I can't risk going much fast than that since I might cause a sonic boom or something. And there's really no point in going faster anyway." Hikyrrou shrugged and looked over at Horro, who was now looking at her in surprise.

"You can go faster?" Horro inquired and she nodded. "That's pretty damn fast Kiru, how do you manage it?" Hikyrrou shrugged then stood up, looking through the trees in the direction of the others.

"They are wondering where you are." She stated nonchalantly. "I should go now any way." Then she turned to Horro, "Keep your eyes open for me kay." She smiled and then was gone and Horro was left looking at her after image. Then it disappeared and Horro got to his feet and headed back to the others.

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Hikyrrou was back at the camp in less then a minute, going slower than she normally would have. When she got back she filled the others in and they sat down to eat. After the meal Ammirra went off on her own, wanting some time to herself.

She walked away form the camp, and as usual the others did nothing. They were used to her leaving suddenly, even Hikyrrou was by now. So she just left them behind, unaware of where she was going, but not really caring. Then a strange idea struck her. Hao had, since he had quit being her apprentice, been the one to show up. Why had she never gone to him? _Simply because I had no reason to, or I believed I had no reason to_. _But try as he may, he is still my student till I deem him otherwise_._ And there is something to teach him yet, I might as well pay him a little visit and see if he is tired of being second class_. So she searched for his power source and found it easily enough. _This should be interesting_. The wind picked up and blew the dust around. When the dust settled again she was gone.

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Hao sat in his camp slightly away form his followers, staring at the fire in front of him. Opacho sat with him but was completely quiet. Then the wind suddenly picked up, blowing the flames of his fire violently, and to his surprise, putting the fire out. Then the wind gathered in one place and whirled. When it dispersed he found himself looking at Ammirra. He stood up, shocked that she was there. "Ammirra. What do you want?"

She frowned, "Is that how you greet me? After I went through all that trouble to come here?" Her voice was uncharacteristically sweet.

Hao's eyes narrowed, "What are you up to Ammirra?"

She smiled, "Nothing, what gives you the idea that I'm up to something?" Then she looked over at the fire that was smoking. Then at the nearest fires of Hao's followers which had also gone out. "Oopsy, did I put out your fire? Oh let me fix that." She snapped her fingers and to Hao's surprise all the fires that had gone out where relit. Hao's followers nearest them where all looking at Ammirra questioningly now, but she ignored them, keeping her eyes on Hao.

"Hao-sama," said the small child Opacho, "Who is she? How did she do that?"

Hao didn't answer, so Ammirra did. "Oh I wouldn't ask him Opacho-chan," She surprised the girl by knowing her name. "He doesn't know how I did it either."

"Who are you? How did you know Opacho's name?" The little girl asked, standing behind Hao.

Ammirra smiled at the little girl, "Why, has Hao never told you about me? I'm Ammirra. I taught Hao in his first life."

Hao took a step forward, "Ammirra, why did you come?"

Ammirra met his gaze, her grey eyes amused. The fire next to them flared up and the flames where now reaching above her head. "Can't you guess? Or have I overestimated your abilities."

Hao's expression did not change but his eyes flashed angrily. "I suggest you tell me why you are here or leave. Which ever suits you best."

Ammirra sat down, "And if none of them suit me?" the fire died down to its original size, "Exactly what do you plan on doing about it?"

Hao was about to take another step forward but instead sat down, realizing Ammirra was trying to play games with him. "Nothing, you'll do one or the other eventually." He smirked.

"Don't be to sure of yourself Hao. Especially when there are still things you don't know." Ammirra looked at the flames of the fire keeping her gaze fixed there.

Hao looked at her, "And exactly what would that be? Or are you going to tell me?"

"That depends, Are you willing to listen to a teacher who has 'nothing else to teach' ?"

Hao remembered what she had said last time, about a trick she knew but he had yet to learn. "That depends, are you willing to teach 'a student who wont open his mind'?"

Ammirra looked away form the flames and laughed, "Very well then, if you want to know meet me tomorrow morning an hour after dawn." With that she stood up and disappeared, though not in a whirlwind like she usually did but in a sudden surge of water that came from nowhere. Hao stared at the spot she had been for a moment then returned his gaze to the fire. _And she didn't even say where_. _Oh well its not like I haven't had to figure that out before_._ And this should prove interesting_.

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When Ammirra returned to where the others where she said nothing but grabbed her bag and returned her sleeping gear to it. Then she turned and was about to walk off again.

_"Going to teach it to him at last?"_ Banira asked her in mind speech. Ammirra turned around and looked her teacher in the eye.

_"You still find me that easy to read?"_ She asked her sensei, slightly surprised.

_"I know you much better than you might think Ammirra. Don't let your guard down. And be careful, don't let yourself lose control."_ Banira's expression never changed once. Ammirra's eyes widened. _"Did you honestly think I hadn't noticed? Your hair has started going purple when you sleep. It's actually quite obvious."_

Ammirra turned to Hikyrrou, "Go see how far Yoh and them are some time tomorrow." Hikyrrou just nodded. Ammirra remained there for a moment then turned and started walking off. _"I won't let my guard down Sensei,"_ she told her teacher before she disappeared.

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Ammirra didn't teleport very far, since she suspected Hao was probably trying to figure out where she was going to be and she didn't want to make it too easy for him. She also wanted some warning before he came. So she went about ten kilometres from the others and then started to walk. When she stopped night was in full swing and she was standing in a small clearing at the base of a cliff. She settled herself down right at the base pulling out her sleeping gear and going to sleep without even lighting a fire.

She woke up an hour before dawn, eating a cold breakfast and packing her stuff. Then she leaned up against the cliff face to wait. She had just started to doze when she heard a sound in the nearby bushes. She was immediately alert.

"See, there aint no way they will find us in here." Ammirra heard a male voice.

" Your right boss, it's the perfect place to hide. Those damn cops wont get us in here," a second male voice. Ammirra heard two others and the voices neared her. Then finally they broke through the trees to her right.

"Hey! Boss, would you look at this," one of the other men pointed to Ammirra.

A guy with a gun in his right hand a sack of money in his left turned to look at Ammirra. He grinned evilly, "Well look what we have here. A girl all by her lonesome. Hey little lady, why don't you come over here and play with us awhile."

_Disgusting,_ Ammirra thought as she stood up. "I wouldn't touch you if you where the last blasted man on earth."

"Why you little!" he pointed the gun at her. Ammirra just looked at the man disgustedly. "Strip you damn Bitch or I'll shoot your!"

She just stood there, _If you shoot that will give me an excuse to kill you_. The other three pulled out guns and pointed them at her. Still she stayed where she was. Then bored she turned her back on them, "If your not going to do anything I'll just go." She started walking away.

"You fucking Bitch!" and the first man fired his gun, his companions hesitating a moment before they too shot at her.

Ammirra turned around bringing a wall of water with her. The water quickly turned to ice and the four bullets where embedded in it. Then the wall crumbled, the shards floating in the air. "Fools, you would have lived if you had just let me be." The shards of ice shot at the men killing three in an instant and catching the fourth in the leg. The man struggled to get away form Ammirra but she appeared right in front of him. "Going somewhere? I thought you wanted to play?"

"Get away from me you monster!"

Ammirra stepped on his injured leg, crushing in painfully, "Monster?" She put more weight on his leg and grinned when he screamed in pain. "I'm no monster. Enjoy hell." With that she lifted her leg and moved her hand in a swift movement that caused the wind to cut his throat. Ammirra stood there covered in her victim's blood, watching as blood continued to spew out of his neck. Then she looked up at the sun, Hao would be there soon. She looked back at the man and picked up his gun in disgust. She made it explode along with the rest of them. Then she moved back to her spot at the base of the cliff and sat back down, waiting once more. Not even a minute passed before Hao's flames appeared. She didn't even bother to look at him though and she stood up. "I was wondering when you'd get here."

Hao frowned, taking in the blood covering Ammirra and the four bodies on the valley floor. "I thought you didn't kill on a whim."

"I don't, they tried to shoot me with there pathetic guns. So I killed them." She shrugged, as if it where no big deal. Which it wasn't since both her and Hao had killed humans before. She glanced at the nearest body then grimaced in disgust, "Besides, the sight of them disgusts me. Especially if they are the kind to take advantage of a girl on her own." Her hair was darker with annoyance and she subconsciously sent a gust of wind cutting the nearest body in two. "Even the sight of their dead bodies annoys me."

Hao kept his gaze on the blood stained Ammirra, "Well then, why don't I rid them from your sight?" The four bodies lit on fire and in a manner of minutes where nothing more than piles of ash that blew away in the wind. "How's that?"

Ammirra shrugged, "One eyesore gone at least."

"Well then, you had something you wanted to tell me? Or did I come out here for nothing?" Hao smirked at her.

"Just as impatient as ever I see," She sent the wind to cut down the sickliest trees in the forest, which she gathered in the same way in the middle of the clearing. "Very well then, light a fire."

"What?" Hao looked at her, slightly confused.

"Just light a damn fire Hao." Ammirra sat down. Hao looked at her for another moment before he lit the fire. "Good, now watch." She concentrated on the fire and it changed to earth in the same shape, then water that moved like the flames, to wind and finally back to fire again.

Hao stared at the fire a moment, then finally he understood. Ammirra had changed his fire into the other three elements, which ment she had some minor influence over them. Which could only be possible if there was an excess of energy in the elements she had changed it to. Which explained why she changed the fire to neither light or sound, because they weren't yet recognized as elements like the others where since there was only the one elemental between them. Fire had five elementals on both sides, water had six, wind had eight and earth had twelve. That was if there where no new ones in this time he had not yet noticed. Time too only had one on each side, but it was not for a lack of power, it was to keep corruption from it to a minimal. However understanding what Ammirra had done still didn't tell him how he could do it himself. "How is it done Ammirra?"

"Hmm? Do you understand exactly how it's possible?" Hao nodded, looking her in the eye. She smiled to herself, "You figured it out sooner than I did that's for sure." Then she stood up, "Bring out the spirit of fire." Her spirit was already at her side. The stag pawed the ground and shook its head, waiting for something. Hao hesitated, then brought out the giant spirit. "What I just did was merely manipulating what was already there. It's the basics to the trick Banira used in my second life." She cycled her spirit through the four elements as she spoke. " It's a simple matter to manipulate things and cycle them through elements that are already there if there's enough energy to them. But it's another thing altogether to use an element that's not present in your current location. An advantage I have over you Hao."

Hao kept his eyes locked on her's, "How so?"

"Because Air is every where and air is what wind is, moving air. Water vapour is also in the air so I am never at a loss for energy that way. Which makes it easier for me to use the most minimal amount of energy from other elements." Her stag was now made of fire. She shrugged, "But still, this is just the basics of it." Then she sat down again, her stag white now. "Well, go ahead, give it a try."

Hao looked at her, taken slightly aback that she would just tell him to try it without telling him exactly how it was done. But then she never really fully explained herself before and he shouldn't be expecting her to start now. So he concentrated on the spirit of fire and tried to change it to earth first, since that would be simplest. His spirit changed quite easily and he looked at it in surprise for a second before he tried to change it to wind, which was also easy. Then he tried water, which he found slightly more difficult because he had to concentrate on the water vapour in the air. But again it proved simple. Then it was easy for him to change it back to its original state.

He looked back at Ammirra, "That was too easy, how could Banira stop you with something as simple as that?"

Ammirra moved back to her feet, "You find that simple because you have already familiarized your self with all the elements. Now if I tried to get Hikyrrou to do that she would struggle. But again Hao, that is just the Basics of it."

"What do you mean? The Basics of what?" Hao kept his eyes locked with hers, trying to figure out her meaning from them, but they told him nothing.

"The basics of the _Mastery Beyond Boundaries_. Without understanding this its impossible to use the _Mastery Beyond Boundaries_ correctly. As a matter of fact, just being able to do this doesn't mean you will succeed in with the mastery." Ammirra looked at the sun. It was still only two hours after dawn.

"And how do you use this _Mastery Beyond Boundaries_?" Hao asked, intrigued.

"I can't teach it to you," Ammirra said simply.

Hao's eyes narrowed, suspicious, "Why?"

"Because it has to be learned by ones self. It simply can't be taught because its different for all elementals," she shrugged, then met his gaze again. "Besides, even if it could be taught, I wouldn't be able to teach it to you anyway."

"Because?"

Ammirra grimaced, "Because I haven't fully mastered it myself yet. Besides, it can be dangerous."

"What exactly is it Ammirra?"

Ammirra frowned, she had expected the question, but had none the less hoped Hao wouldn't ask it. "It's a technique that allows the wielder to… well use another elementals power. Not like what you just did, which is only a partial mastery of the other elements, and can't even be used for light, sound or time. But actual making that persons abilities your own, gaining there mastery of whichever element they control. But it can back fire. And when it does it almost always causes death." Again Ammirra grimaced, "It's the only other way for an Elemental to die and stay dead."

Abruptly Ammirra turned, looking at the top of the cliff. Aware of another presence, but it was already too late.

Well that was interesting. Hmm, eternal death… scary. Well I should get on to the next chappie then……or maybe I should take a nap… hmm I wonder…………

**Ja Ne!**


	13. Chapter 13

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Shaman King… and I don't think that's gonna change.

mmmm i feel kinda shunned... am i hated... or is everyone just mad at me for not updating in forever...? oh well... i like writing the fic anyway so on with it! oh yeah... um i wont be able to write for a few weeks cuz my moniter is totally broken, lucky for me i loaded this to my moms comp before it happened... sorry...

Chapter Thirteen Stolen 

Ammirra abruptly turned, looking at the top of the cliff. She was aware of another presence and quickly brought out her water to create an ice shield. She was too late, the attack hit her before the ice could form fully and sent her flying. She hit the nearest tree, it snapped and she continued flying into the next. She hit the trunk with a dull crack and fell to the ground at its base. Hao stared in astonishment at the cliff top. He had sensed nothing up until the moment the attack had struck Ammirra. How had the person managed to keep hidden like that? How had they caught Ammirra so off guard when if Hao had attacked her he knew she would have easily seen it coming?

He turned in the direction Ammirra had fallen to discover her already back on her feet. However her left shoulder was bleeding and the arm hung almost useless at her side. Her breathing was slightly irregular as she stepped forward, glaring at the top of the cliff.

"Hmm, I'm amazed you saw that coming. It was meant to hit you from behind and kill you. Your lucky too be alive." A male with black hair of about the age eighteen jumped down form the cliff edge. "But next time I assure you, you wont be so lucky."

Ammirra's eyes narrowed menacingly. "You're the one who was lucky. _I_ assure _you_, I won't be caught so easily again." Ammirra kept her eyes on him. It hadn't been speed that had got her. Rather she hadn't noticed he was there until his attack because he was a wind elemental, probably water too. He was most definitely her new double. She could tell that he was only on his first life, so it made sense that he was her double. However it didn't make sense that he would show himself to her in his first life. None of the others ever had. Even in her first life, her doubles then were already on their third and she didn't beat the two of them 'till her second and third lives.

"A little over confident aren't you, for someone who's left arm is useless to them." The newcomer grinned, "Well I might as well tell you my name, but its not like you'll have to remember it since you die here. My name is Emor." He moved to attack Ammirra, and for a moment it appeared to Hao that this Emor would hit her. Only for a moment.

Ammirra was suddenly behind Emor, "I haven't been killed by one of my doubles yet, not even when there were two and they ganged up on me. I doubt a beginner like you could kill me." Hao stared at her, she was playing mind games with a shaman who had just managed to render her left arm useless.

Emor spun around, furious, sending icicles at his opponent. Ammirra just dodged them. "Is that all you can do?" then she stopped dodging and blocked his next attack. "My turn then." Ammirra sent a spiral wind attack at him, followed immediately by icicles. Both attacks hit him and he struggled back to his feet, his left arm now limp like Ammirra's. "There, now we're even."

"Your not as good as Netta has led me to believe," Emor grinned. "Where is the one who managed to nearly sever her arm five thousand years ago? Don't tell me you have let yourself grow rusty?"

Ammirra's hair grew dark. The wall in her mind made to keep her emotions under tight control was all but destroyed now and this Emor got on her nerves. He sickened her, just the sight of him made her blood boil, and now he had to add insult. Under normal conditions she would have ignored it but she was already annoyed. "You should watch what you say. You don't want to make me angry."

"Oh no, Ammirra is getting mad at me. What should I do?" Emor mocked her. Ammirra's hair was dangerously close to black now.

She turned towards Hao, "You might want to take a few steps back." Then she turned back to Emor. Emor tried again to attack her and Ammirra didn't move. She just stood there and let his attack hit. Yet she remained on her feet, a large gash across her stomach now. Emor went for another attack, sure he had the advantage now, but when he was mid air Ammirra raised her right arm. Immediately a violent storm broke out. Emor just managed to get out with a large gash on his right leg and a cut on his head. He looked at Ammirra shocked and seemed to be trying to make an escape.

That's when Hao felt some of his own power being drained at the same instant a tree fell and caught on fire, knocking Emor to the ground and setting him on fire. Something inside Ammirra snapped and another violent storm broke out. Hao was cut on the face by the wind and took another step back. Emor managed to get back to his feet and disappear out of there in a very sorry condition.

Still the storm did not stop and Hao knew what was happening. Just when he thought he might have to knock her out Ammirra coughed. Blood came up and the wind began to slow, then finally stop. Ammirra dropped to her knees, right hand held to her mouth and covered in blood. She coughed again and then passed out. Hao stared at the bloodstained Ammirra, now covered in both her blood and the humans' blood. He walked over to her and picked her up, then grabbed her bag. He could take her to where ever her sister was. However he wanted to know if what he had felt was Ammirra using the _Mastery Beyond Boundaries_. He and Ammirra were enveloped in flames and disappeared.

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Minutes later Hao arrived at his own camp with the injured Ammirra in his arms. Opacho came up to him immediately.

"Hao-sama! What happened to Ammirra-san?" Opacho looked genuinely concerned.

"Opacho, where is Rakist?"

"Here Hao-sama." A priest dressed in black with a bible in one hand stepped forward.

"Take care of her wounds," Hao put Ammirra carefully down in front of Luca. "Where is Kanna?"

"Hao-sama," a woman with long blue hair in a tube top and short shorts came to Hao's side.

"You and Matchi and Marri can bath her and change her cloths," Hao tossed Ammirra's bag to Kanna.

"Of course Hao-sama," Kanna said, but inside she was reeling.

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When Ammirra finally woke up it was nearing midnight the next day. She found herself beside a fire and covered by her own blankets. Her hair was cleaned and she was in different cloths. Her hair had been tied back and her wounds bandaged. She didn't remember what had happened.

Opacho was sitting on the other side of the fire and came to sit beside her when the girl saw she was awake. "How is Ammirra-san feeling?" the girl asked her.

Ammirra tried to sit up and experienced a sudden burst of pain. Despite herself she let out a hiss. She heard movement from somewhere beyond the fires light and a second later the priest stepped into view.

"You should refrain from moving. Your wounds a severe." Hearing those words triggered Ammirra's memory. She sat up suddenly, ignoring the shots of pain that movement sent through her body. "You should remain lying," Rakist put a hand on her shoulder and tried to push her back down.

Ammirra irritably swat at his hand, "This pain is nothing."

Hao walked into the circle of light, "And what's going on here?"

Rakist got to his feet, "Hao-sama. The girl is awake but refuses to-."

Hao cut him off, "Ammirra is awake?" He looked passed Luca and Opacho at the now sitting Ammirra. "Rakist, Opacho, leave."

"Hao-sama!" Rakist looked at him shocked.

Opacho pulled at Luca's sleeve, "Hao-sama says leave so Opacho and Rakist leave." Rakist looked down at the child then finally went with her out of the fires light.

Hao walked to where Ammirra was sitting and sat down beside her. His gaze was on the fire, "How are you feeling?"

Ammirra's eyes widened in shock, why was Hao being so nice to her? "If I didn't know you better I'd say you where actually worried about me."

"Of course not. I just have something I want to ask you." He looked over at her now.

"Oh, and what's that?" Ammirra had to close her eyes against the pain. There was a single orange streak in her hair.

"The _Mastery Beyond Boundaries_, did you use it in that fight?" Hao studied her face carefully.

"Almost." Ammirra looked up at the night sky.

"Almost?" Hao repeated.

"I made a mistake and was hit by a rebound. That's the only reason I passed out. The injury on my shoulder and the one on my stomach I could have handled and got back to my own camp." Ammirra shrugged.

"You knew it could have killed you for good and still you used it?" Hao looked up at the stars now too. "Why?"

"Because it's better to die like that and be the only one dead then to lose control and kill everyone within two hundred kilometres, Shaman and Human alike. Then have to deal with that knowledge in my next life." She kept her gaze on the sky, refusing to look anywhere else. "They're pretty aren't they?"

Hao looked at her, "yes, the stars are pretty. But nowhere near as brilliant as they were a thousand years ago."

Ammirra laughed, "A thousand years ago is nothing compared to the stars in my first life Hao. Every time I look at them they seem less brilliant then the last. Like they are becoming less willing to shine for us. Their light is old, and they are tired, and then they'll just wink out."

"What the hell are you talking about Ammirra!" Hao yelled angrily, catching on to what Ammirra was hinting at. Surprised that she would even think such a thing.

"Hao, I'm tired. Tired of everything. Every single time I come back I feel I'm less of myself. I've been watching this world diminish for longer than you have. I've watched human kind develop into something frightening. I keep trying to stop it, but despite my efforts the world perishes faster and faster." Ammirra bundled up her legs, wrapping her arms around them. "No matter what I do I can't change anything and the world I was born into is lost to me now." She turned her head to Hao, smiling weakly. "I'm much weaker then you. I find myself thinking it would be better if I could just die for good and give my weary soul over to the long awaited oblivion of death." She hugged her legs tighter, "But I'm scared of death, even though I've already died six times."

Hao stared at her, stunned. He had had no idea how much it had hurt Ammirra to watch the world she was born into steadily waste away. He was shocked that she was even telling him this, he didn't understand why she would. He took a breath to steady himself, "Why are you telling me, a 'mere apprentice' all this?"

Ammirra chuckled, "Turning my own words on me again huh. I should have expected that." She looked Hao right in the eyes, letting go of her legs, her face serious. "But then you should remember that I told you that an apprentice can not become a master until their teacher has taught them all they can." Ammirra looked away for a moment then back again. "Hao, it's done. I have nothing else to teach. You're far better off then me any way."

Hao looked at her, astonished. He had never expected her to suddenly declare that she had nothing else to teach. _But that's a lie, she still has one more thing to teach me_. He remembered what she had said that time they had talked while still in Japan. That she had to tell someone or doom herself again. And she had chosen to talk to him. Not to her sister who she obviously couldn't bring herself to talk to about this. Not to Banira who had been her role model growing up. Not to her new pupil who she considered almost like family. But to him, who had turned his back on her. It didn't make any sense.

Hao frowned, "Tell me Ammirra… why are you so scared of dieing?"

Ammirra grimaced, "Because when I die I'll see her face again, laughing at me. And because the disease makes it an eternity of pain, each time ten times worse than the last." She hugged herself again. "That's why, compared to that pain, this is nothing." Then suddenly her eyes widened, as if she had just realized something very disturbing.

Though Hao couldn't read her thoughts he knew what was bugging her by the look on her face. "The Hana Gumi bathed you and changed your clothes."

Ammirra glared at him, trying to decide if he was telling her the truth or not. Eventually she decided he was. "Alright then," She made to stand up. "I'll be heading back to my own camp then." She was on her feet, and seemed to be steady enough, but Hao wasn't fooled. Ammirra made to grab her bag that was on the other side of the fire and stumbled.

Before Hao even knew what he was doing he had moved to catch her. He stood there for a moment with Ammirra in his arms. "Ammirra. Your soul my be used to worse pain but your current body isn't." He held her a moment longer then carefully placed down in a sitting position next to the fire. "You should keep that in mind." He turned away form her, looking in the direction of the light form another fire. "Rakist." He said it quietly but none the less a minute later the priest appeared in the light of their fire, followed by Opacho.

"Hao-sama." Rakist stopped at the edge of the firelight.

"How long till you would consider Ammirra fit?" Hao was looking at Ammirra.

"At least a month, Hao-sama."

Hao kept his gaze on Ammirra, "Thank you Luca." Hao thought for a moment, "I'll take you to your camp tomorrow Ammirra. Get some sleep."

Ammirra's eyes flashed angrily and she jumped to her feet. "Who do you think you are to tell me when I can leave and when I should fucking sleep!" Her hair was only slightly darker than usual and still had the single orange streak running through it. Hao just looked at her calmly. "Damn it to hell Hao! Your infuriating, like I would stay here the night!" She walked passed him and Luca to grab her bag and went back over to where her sleeping gear was. She started to stuff it irritably in her bag, and then stood up again. "I'm getting out of here." Hao was still looking at her calmly as she started walking away.

"Hao-sama! Shouldn't you stop Ammirra-san?" Opacho pulled on the older shamans poncho.

"She won't get far."

Ammirra had only gone a few feet when she stopped. Something was missing … She whirled around, "Where is it Hao?" Her hair was now navy blue. She walked up to him.

Hao's expression didn't change in the slightest, "Where's what?"

Ammirra glared at him, then abruptly realized that Hao hadn't been the one to take it. "You said the Hana Gumi changed my clothes?" Hao merely nodded. "Where are they?"

"Why?"

"Because one of them has something that doesn't belong to them. And if I don't get it back I will simply have to call insult. Which you should now means a fight and I'm rather pissed off."

"What did they take?" Hao asked her, pushing it beyond what would have been safe for most.

Ammirra glared, her eyes flashing, "My pendant."

again... im so sorry but the next update wont be for a couple of weeks... maybe even a month... well atleast i got this up.

**JA NE!**


	14. Chapter 14

**Disclaimer:** I do not on Shaman king.

Ooooooo chapter fourteen… cool… Well I should get on with it then. Enjoy!

Chapter Fourteen

Fancy 

After Ammirra left their camp Banira sat and looked at the fire while Sutara instructed Hikyrrou on what she wanted to eat that night. Hikyrrou walked off grudgingly and came back half an hour later. She had a sack full of fruit and a couple of fish with her.

The group made a meal and then sat and thought of their own private matters, talking with no one. Eventually they all turned in for the night and the fire burnt out as they lay silently breathing in blissful slumber.

By the time Hikyrrou woke up the others were awake as well, but there was no sign of Ammirra. Hikyrrou frowned, looking at the position of the sun, she thought Ammirra would at least have contacted her via mind speech to make sure she didn't sleep in. However Ammirra hadn't and Hikyrrou had indeed slept in, the sun was already halfway to its peak. She looked at Banira who's face displayed nothing, so she turned to Sutara. She found that Sutara too was worried.

Sutara looked at her, "Oh good morning Hikyrrou." She handed the younger girl the left over food form breakfast. "Here eat this, then you should go check where Yoh and the others are."

Hikyrrou thanked her for the food and finished it without another word. Then she stood up looking at the two more experienced shaman, "Well, I'm off then." She turned and walked away. She found them easily and watched them for a while then turned back. They were progressing but she found their pace ridiculously slow.

She arrived back at the camp at noon to find Ammirra had still not come back, or made any contact at all. Sutara was looking around anxiously now, hoping that Ammirra would appear at any moment. Banira still looked emotionless, but Hikyrrou thought she had caught a hint of worry in the time shaman's eyes.

They ate lunch silently and then sat, an awkward silence settling itself. Hikyrrou wanted to know were Ammirra was, but found herself unable to ask. It was Sutara who finally broke the silence.

"Banira-sama, shouldn't she be back by now," she looked at Banira, an almost desperate look in her eyes.

Banira frowned, "No, but…" Banira's eyes looked distant and she went quite again.

Sutara stood up, "What do you mean? But what?" Banira just shook her head. Sutara looked at her indignantly and then turned and stalked off angrily, "I'm going to look for her."

Hikyrrou looked after her mentor's sister, half rising to follow but Banira placed a hand on her shoulder. "It is best for you to stay here." Then Banira went back to her seat and resumed her vigil of the fire.

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Late that night a disheartened Sutara returned from her search. She didn't eat and went straight to bed, though it seemed she would not sleep that night. Hikyrrou said she was going to check on Yoh's gang again and left.

Hikyrrou's mind was reeling as she ran; she wanted to search for Ammirra but knew that she stood little chance of finding her. She found Yoh's group moments later in the back of some guy's truck. She didn't want to go back to the camp so she kept tabs on them all through the night and into the next day.

So she saw when a green haired dowser attacked them. She could have easily stepped in and stopped it but she didn't want to blow her cover so she watched as he injured Horro and Ren. Then she watched as Yoh beat him. She heard his name mentioned as well and decided to probe his mind to find out his motives. She found that Hao had killed Lyserg's parents and his motive was revenge.

She was still watching when Lyserg was attacked and Yoh's group came to his aid and made him their comrade. The sun was beginning to set now and she decided she would head back to camp. However before she could leave she sensed a presence that was unnervingly familiar. She whirled just as she was hit by a massive sound wave.

She let out a scream as she went flying, then skidded across the pavement before finally hitting the bench Lyserg had just vacated. The bench splintered but did not break and she lay there stunned for a moment.

Yoh and the others had turned to see what had happened and when they spotted her stared for a moment. Lyserg didn't know what was going on but moved to help her since he was closest.

Hikyrrou struggled to her feet, "No stay back!" She braced herself knowing another blow would come at any moment.

Horro registered the situation finally, "Hikyrrou! What happened?" He moved towards her. Just before he got there Hikyrrou was hit again, but she braced herself and remained on her feet. However she had a gaping head wound from the first blow and another horrible leg wound. She was lucky to have no broken bones.

"Damn it! You guys stay back! I'll handle it!" Horro froze along with the others who had also moved to help. Hikyrrou held out her hand palm up and her wolf spirit appeared beside her before breaking and swirling around her out stretched arm. Instead of a staff this time she had a katana in her hand. Quickly she brought it up to block another attack.

That was when her assailant showed himself. Hikyrrou gasped and nearly lost her grip on her weapon. "Kasser!" She stared at her blue haired brother. "No! Why you!" Her eyes were watering and she jumped back from him shaking her head in desperation.

Kasser grinned evilly, "What, disappointed to see your own brother? I thought you would be glad that it was me to end your life for good, dear sister." She took a step back, and Yoh's group stepped in between the siblings.

"I don't know what's going on here, but leave Hikyrrou alone," Horro said menacingly.

"Stay out of my way weaklings," Kasser said coldly.

Hikyrrou couldn't stand it anymore, she stepped forward past Horro. "Oni-chan, if its you who is my double, then I will gladly release you from Netta's hands!" She tightened her grip on her weapon then jumped at her bother.

Kasser dodged it easily and began to laugh. "Stupid girl, but that doesn't matter now. We fight to settle this later!" He turned and disappeared without a trace.

Hikyrrou stood there panting, her weapon turning back to her wolf spirit. Horro Horro rushed to her, "What the hell is going on here Hikyrrou?" He put his hands on her shoulders. Hikyrrou was looking at her feet, shaking all over.

She turned away form Horro, "Kasser…" she shook her head in an attempt to keep the tears back. Then she turned to Horro, eyes water, "I guess I have a lot of explaining to do huh?" She didn't know how it happened but after that she found herself crying and Horro Horro holding her, trying his best to comfort her.

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When she finally stopped crying they went outside the town and camped along the highway. Hikyrrou stayed with them only because she really didn't want to be alone, even knowing she would have to explain a lot to them when they stopped.

Sure enough when they had made camp Ren turned to her. "How did you manage to hide the fact that you are a shaman?"

Hikyrrou looked at him, her eyes empty, "Something Ammirra-sensei did, I don't really know."

Yoh and Ryu looked at her dumfounded, "Sensei?" they said in unison.

"I still haven't figured that one out myself," Horro said, keeping his eyes on Hikyrrou.

Ren turned to Horro now, angry, "You knew? How?"

Horro Horro grinned, "Came around the corner and startled her, she jumped on the roof." Then he shrugged, "She asked me not to tell you guys though."

Lyserg was looking at Hikyrrou blankly, "Who is she?" he asked the group.

Hikyrrou stood up and walked up to Lyserg, "Names Hikyrrou, nice to meet you, Lyserg Deithel."

He stared at her in shock, "How do you know my name?"

Hikyrrou shrugged, "I heard it mentioned." Then she looked at him seriously, "Your right to look for campanions if you want to beat Hao, but you still don't stand a chance. I'm not even sure if Ammirra-sensei can beat him…"

Lyserg glared, "How do you know about Hao?"

Hikyrrou met his gaze without flinching, "I've met him on a few occasions, but I've haven't actually seen him fight, he shows up as if he's trying to pick a fight with Sensei and then suddenly leaves again. He's twisted all right but there are worse people out there."

"What are you talking about?" Horro asked her, "I didn't know you knew Hao."

Hikyrrou turned to him, "How can I not know him, we have something in common, or at least we did." She saw the looks on their faces and decided she better explain more. "Hao used to be Ammirra-sensei's apprentice to, but he turned his back on her and things have been sour between them since. She didn't approve of his bloody ways."

Lyserg glared at her anew, "You're telling me that your teacher also taught the bastard who killed my family?"

Hikyrrou turned back to him, "As I said, he turned his back on Ammirra-sensei, and now they hate each other. Though she won't attack him and he won't attack her because neither knows how strong the other is right now."

"Lyserg that's enough," Yoh stopped Lyserg from asking another question, then turned back to Hikyrrou. "Exactly what happened back there?"

Hikyrrou stared at him then sighed, "Someone tried to kill me and couldn't, you don't really need to know more." Her eyes where dark and unreadable.

Horro glanced at her worriedly, "You seemed to know him though, who was he Kiru?"

At this her eyes watered a new but she managed to keep herself under control, "His name is Kasser… he used to be my brother." Then she turned away form all of them and started to walk off. "I have to go, Ammirra-sensei will probably be expecting me back soon."

Horro grabbed her arm, "Wait! Did you just say that he's your brother?"

Hikyrrou turned back to him slowly and shook her head, "WAS my brother Horro. I can't say he is anymore, now he is my greatest enemy." A single tear ran down her check.

They all looked at her shocked, then Ryu finally spoke up. "How can your brother be your enemy, family is on the same side!"

Hikyrrou laughed sadly, "Family? If he were still family then I would be of the same opinion, but it was his decision to go with Netta, and to be on Netta's side makes him my sworn enemy." She shrugged, trying to shake of her sorrow, "He can be my brother no longer. There is nothing more to it than that."

Slowly Horro let go of her arm and she turned again to leave, before she sensed a familiar presence. _Kassianna!_ Her eyes grew wide and she whirled around to see Kassianna walk out form behind a tree nearby. "Nea-san!"

Everyone turned to see who it was Hikyrrou was looking at. Then Ryu stepped forward and grabbed one of Kassianna's hands, his eyes becoming hearts. "Beautiful lady! Will you be my best place?"

Both Kassianna and Hikyrrou looked at him in disgust. Kassianna pulled her hand away and at the same time both sisters slapped him. "Hands off!" Kassianna looked at him angrily then turned to her sister, "Hikyrrou… are you all right? I felt Kasser nearby a minute ago…"

Hikyrrou winced, remembering now her wounds that had been hastily bandaged in the village. "I'll be okay Nea-san, I'll get Ammirra-sensei or Sutara-san to take care of these scratches when I get back to camp."

Kassianna's eyes widened, "He hurt you! Oh that's horrible!" She rushed to her sister's side and started to try and get a look at Hikyrrou's wounds.

"Nea-san. I'll be fine, really."

Horro took a step forward then, "Hey, Kiru I've seen your sister before but we haven't been introduced yet."

Kassianna raised an eyebrow as Hikyrrou stammered an apology, "S-sorry Horro… but last time was…"

Horro cut her off, "You don't have to explain last time Kiru. Just introduce us this time." Then he laughed.

Hikyrrou giggled, "Sorry, Horro this is my sister Kassianna," then she turned to her sister, smiling broadly, "Nea-san, this is Horro Horro and his friends, Yoh Asakura, Ren Toa, Ryu, and Lyserg Deithel." She pointed them out in turn.

Kassianna grinned and chirped, "Nice to meet you." Then she turned back to her sister. "So," she said to her sister smugly, "Whats with Horro and you? I've never heard anyone call you Kiru before Hiks." Her smile was sweet but her eyes flashed mischievously.

Hikyrrou blinked, "Between? Nea-san, we're just friends." Hikyrrou looked nervously at Horro to get his support.

Horro nodded, "Its easier to call each other by nickname."

Kassianna let out a bark of laughter, "Just friends? Maybe fore now." Then her face went serious, "I have to go though, Joey-sensei is probably waiting, are you sure you'll be okay?"

Hikyrrou smiled, "perfectly fine, did you say Joey-sensei? Isn't that the leading earth elemental?"

Kassianna nodded, "Yeah, I use a faction of the earth element so Joey-sensei took me in as her pupil. Lucky huh." Hikyrrou nodded. "Well I'll see you later Hiks."

"Bye!" Hikyrrou waved to her sister as she ran off. Then she turned to the others, "I should be going now to, keep your eyes peeled for me… if you can!" and with that she left leaving an after image behind.

It wasn't long before she reached the camp but she was shaking. She had used more energy in the fight than she though she had. Upon arriving at the camp she passed out and a shocked Sutara took care of her words. So she had no idea Ammirra had not returned until she was woken by the message Ammirra sent her some time after midnight.

She sat up and instantly responded, _"Ammirra-sensei?"_. Ammirra's next message was a long time in coming, _"Listen Hikyrrou, can you leave camp without Sutara noticing?"_. Hikyrrou sent a quick affirmative and left the camp silently before Ammirra said anything else, _"Hikyrrou I need you to come here quikly, I'm at Hao's camp, no questions and say nothing unless I tell you what to say understood?"_

Hikyrrou frowned,_ "Whats going on Ammirra-sensei?"_. Ammirra's response was annoyed, _"I'll explain later! Just get your ass over here!"_ Hikyrrou winced and then blinked out.

well thats it. updating will probably be slow for awhile longer tho, i still havn't gotten my new moniter so im writing this out by hand then when moms not around to catch me i type it all up in one sitting. i write alot slower tho when im writing out by hand and it can take awhile to find a time were its safe to typ it up. i'll do my best tho!

Ja Ne!


	15. Chapter 15

**Disclaimer: **I don't own Shaman King….. AND I NEVER WILL OF COURSE!

Hey! Mmmm well heres the next chappie….. if I can type it before mom gets home….. I probably can, what am I worrying about????? ENJOY!!!!

Chapter Fifteen

_Pendant_

Ammirra was utterly annoyed with her pupil, and it didn't help that she was already mad. _"I'll explain later, just get your ass over here!"_ she told her pupil while she continued looking at the fire. Hao had gone of saying he'd be back with the Hana Gumi soon, but he had been gone now for over an hour. _If he doesn't come back soon I'll kill him, I really will this time, _she thought to herself, and at the same time, knowing she wouldn't be able to in her current condition. That was when Hikyrrou appeared slightly to her left, making Opacho and the priest jump. Ammirra didn't move, she just told her to sit. Hikyrrou silently obeyed her and sat down in front of the fire, still on her teachers left.

Barely a minute later Hao walked back into the circle of light with two girls and a woman following him. Ammirra's gaze fell almost immediately on the blue haired women. She already disliked her; the woman wore a tube top that would better be defined as a strapless bra and ridiculously short shorts. The other two where at least decently dressed though a little to black.

Hao walked up to Ammirra, expecting her to stand up. She didn't she merely looked up at him and waited for him to speak. He looked annoyed for a second before he sat down beside her and signaled to others to sit as well. Then he pointed to the Hana Gumi in turn, "This," he pointed to the blue haired woman, "Is Kanna, the leader of the Hana Gumi." Then he pointed at the blonde haired girl in the gothic dress with pigtails, "That's Marri, and that's," he pointed to the orange haired girl dressed in what looked like black overalls with the legs cut short, "Matchi." He looked casually at Ammirra, "And as far as I can tell none of them have anything that belongs to you."

Ammirra stood up and walked over to Kanna, holding out her hand imperiously, "I know you have it, I suggest you give it back." Her voice was cold.

Kanna looked shocked, "I- I don't know what your talking about! Honestly accusing someone you don't even know!" she jumped to her feet, now looking down on Ammirra. "Who do you think you are anyway you little wench!"

Hao leaned back a little, Kanna would get it now, he glanced over to his left and spotted Hikyrrou, _when did she get her, oh well_. He looked back at Ammirra to see how she would react.

Ammirra looked calmly up at Kanna, "Did I hear you right? I could have sworn you called me a little wench."

Kanna looked down at Ammirra angrily, "No you heard me right you arrogant bitch!" Kanna went to slap Ammirra but missed. Ammirra jumped up over Kanna's head to land behind her.

No sooner did Ammirra land behind Kanna then did she kick out her leg and trip the woman. "I'd watch you language if I where you. Dirty fucking hore!" Kanna fell to the ground face first and Ammirra walked over and shoved the woman's face into the dirt with her foot. "Now I'd like my pendent back." Ammirra bent down and reached into one of Kanna's pockets. She pulled out something that looked like a yin yang but was not black and white. The parts that should have been white where clear and the parts that should have been black where steadily going through blue and green, "Thank you." Ammirra remove her foot form the woman's head and turned away. She walked back to the fire and grabbed her bag. "Let's go Hikyrrou." She started to walk off and her pupil hastily rose to follow.

Kanna got onto her knees and scowled at Ammirra, "How dare you, you good for nothing brat!" Kanna rose to her feet, "Ashcroft!" An empty suit of army appeared that was apparently her spirit.

Ammirra stopped and turned to her pupil, Hikyrrou immediately turned back to the fire and brought out her staff. "Ammirra-sensei feels it is beneath her to deal with the likes of you so I will gladly do it for her."

"What can a brat like you do! Attack Ashcroft!" The armor moved to attack Hikyrrou but the girl was already behind it. Ashcroft blew to bits and Kanna was left staring.

Ammirra turned away and continued to walk off, Hikyrrou catching up to her. Before Kanna could realize what had happened both of them where out of sight.

Hao walked up to Kanna, "You really should be careful what you say around Ammirra." Hao smirked, "She's rather touchy and by no means physically weak. I wouldn't want to get her to mad." Then he walked out of the fire light and Kanna was left to wonder with the other two Hanna Gumi members, _Just who is this girl? And why is Hao-sama so interested in her?_

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

When they where a decent distance away form Hao's camp Ammirra stopped. Hikyrrou looked at her curiously, "Sensei, why did you want me to come? I mean you could have handled that on your own. And why didn't we just teleport back to the camp?" That was when Hikyrrou noticed that her teacher was panting and that her hair was streaked orange. Ammirra dropped to her knees, her right hand on her stomach her left hanging rather limply at her side. "S-Sensei! W-what's wrong sensei?" Hikyrrou immediately kneeled beside her teacher.

"Hikyrrou… g-get me… back to the… c-camp," Ammirra panted. "W-wake Banira-sensei… not Nea-san…Banira-sensei." Ammirra winced then passed out, falling forward.

"Sensei!" Hikyrrou grabbed her sensei before she hit the ground. She picked Amirra up, slinging her fallen pack over her own shoulder, _what happened to you sensei?_ She thought before winking back to the camp.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

When they arrived at the camp Banira was already up. She motioned Hikyrrou to carefully put Ammirra down on her bed roll. Once that was done Banira pulled off Ammirra's shirt and removed her bandages. Hikyrrou inhaled sharply when she saw the two gashes. No wonder Ammirra passed out. Banira However didn't think so; she quickly healed the two wounds and pulled Ammirra's shirt back on.

She was shaking her head, "You fool Amirra, you know you can't use it properly. You could have got yourself killed!" Banira sighed then grabbed something out of her bag. She got out a wooden cup and filled it with water, then sprinkled some powder into it and added a little but of furyoku. She raised Ammirra's head and opened her mouth by plugging the nose. Then she slowly poured the mixture into Ammirra's mouth. Slowly the orange streaks in Ammirra's hair returned to the original aqua.

Banira turned to Hikyrrou, "Get her sleeping gear out and set it up. She'll be fine now." Hikyrrou, used to taking orders, didn't ask questions, she grabbed Ammirra's sleeping role and set it up. "Good, now let's transfer her; it will look better if Sutara wakes to find her sister sleeping in her own bed." Hikyrrou nodded and carefully moved her now sleeping sensei to her own role. Banira then insisted that they both go to bed.

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Though Banira had told Hikyrrou that Ammirra would be absolutely fine now, she knew that her student had a lot to pull through before she would be in the safe zone. Not to mention that with Ammirra out like this and so weak her double could make easy pickings of her. So Banira stayed awake after Hikyrrou went to bed, she had to make sure that when Ammirra woke she would not over exert herself, as Ammirra had a reputation of doing.

When Sutara woke Banira told her that Ammirra was just tired and needed to be left alone, and grudgingly Sutara left the camp. Banira sent Hikyrrou away as well when she roused so that neither would see how severe a condition Ammirra really was in. About an hour after the sun reached its peak Ammirra woke for the first time.

Banira had been mixing and boiling herbs over the fire and when she heard movement quickly took some of her mixture and put it in a cup. She brought the steaming concoction to Ammirra and bid her drink it.

Ammirra glared, "Banira-sensei, I know you well enough to know that there is some sort of douse in there to put me to sleep! I won't take it." Then she winced and started to pant, her right hand on her breast over her heart.

Banira sighed, "It's for your own good, look at how much pain you're in Ammirra. I know you don't like to be in pain. Take this you'll feel much better." She grabbed Ammirra's free left hand and placed the cup in it. "Go on then, trust me, you need your rest."

Ammirra continued to glare but then everything started to move out of focus and her hands began to shake. Without knowing what she was doing she removed her right hand from her chest and grasped the glass to keep it form spilling. Banira held her hands steady and again bade her to drink. Ammirra managed a feeble nod and somehow managed to down the douse. Immediately she felt the pain ease and her body growing drowsy. Resigning she lay back down and promptly drifted back to sleep.

Banira stayed by her side for awhile before going back to her mixture over the fire. She had known this would happen but it was still unnerving how the future she had seen the day before Ammirra had went out to meet Hao had changed so fast. Then Ammirra was supposed to come back fine, but when Banira had checked again after Ammirra had left she had found what she had previously seen to be completely altered. It was unnerving that things should change so fast, not even Netta had the ability to alter the future at that rate so drastically. There was only two people Banira know that could have the slightest chance in doing something to this degree and they where both dead, the had died fighting each other. _As much as I hate to think this, its better you're gone, that power was just to dangerous_, Banira stared at the fire blankly. _Still there was more you could have taught me and now I may never know_, she sighed deeply and mixed the concoction over the fire absently. Then she got a strange container form her bag and transferred the mixture to it so that the other two wouldn't see it when they got back.

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It was lucky for Banira that both Sutara and Hikyrrou did not return until well after the sun set, so all she had to say was that Ammirra retired early when they found her still sleeping. Of course Banira would have come up with a suitable excuse anyway, but even she didn't want to get Sutara worried about Ammirra. Sutara was extremely overprotective. Even Ammirra would pretend nothing was wrong when she woke if Sutara was there, Sutara could be pretty scary sometimes.

Banira was tired by this point in time but she ignored her own exhaustion, she really didn't want to be sleeping the next time Ammirra woke up. There was no telling what Ammirra might do. She was entirely too stubborn for her own good. So she resumed her vigilance by the fire pretending to sleep while the others settled in for the night. When she could her Sutara and Hikyrrou snoring she got up and sat beside Ammirra. That was when she noticed Ammirra's pendant. Banira frowned; Ammirra hadn't worn it for a long time. She couldn't see why the girl would wear it now, and more so, she hadn't seen this coming either.

She sighed to herself, she couldn't just ask Ammirra why because Ammirra would assume that she knew. If she asked then Ammirra would be alerted to the fact that time wasn't how it should be. If Ammirra knew about that she would become less approachable and more serious, after all Banira's hard work to get the girl back on her feet again to. So Banira would have to go into a trance and look at exactly what had happened after Ammirra had left, and Banira hated looking into the past. It was worse so now since the future was changing so rapidly that meant the passed she saw could be drastically different form what it should have been. That just made it twice as bad as it would have been in normal circumstances, because it was much harder to go backwards in time then forward. Going backward meant going against natural laws while going forward was simply a matter of accelerating current events. Of course she had problems going backwards, it took a lot of energy on her part to bend the rules, _Am I still nothing compared to you?_ Banira shook her head and laughed. She couldn't help it, she would always be much better using the other time techniques then going back. In fact she remembered how long it took her to even manage going back five years, after the first time she had gone back that is. The first time she had bent the rules had been completely by accident, she had only been four years old and had had no idea she had such abilities.

She was snapped suddenly out of her thoughts when a hand touched her knee. She looked down at her knee startled for a moment then over at Ammirra. Ammirra's eyes where open and she was studying her sensei intently. Banira cocked an eyebrow, "What?"

Ammirra was quite for a moment, keeping her eyes locked on her sensei's. Then she took a breath closing her eyes momentarily, "Sensei, is time on the fritz or something? You seem pretty preoccupied."

Banira frowned; _she has gotten a little to sharp, that's no good_, "What makes you say that?"

"Banira-sensei, you've trained me for a long time now, I think I can tell your moods if only just a little. Your far more serious then usual, you should have known when I would wake up and you shouldn't have been startled when I touched your knee." Ammirra shrugged then looked her sensei in the eyes again, "Are you going to tell me what's going on?"

Banira chuckled, "You really hate not knowing what's going on don't you. Well you shouldn't worry about it, I've a past of my own you know, and like any one else I can be lost in it, however ironic that sounds." Ammirra let out a giggle at the last bit and Banira smiled. _That was close_, the time shaman reached into her pack and took out the container she had put her sleeping mix in. "Come now Ammirra, your still not fully healed," She said as she poured another cup of the stuff. She held the cup out for Ammirra, "Drink up."

Ammirra frowned but took the cup, "Fine, I can tell you'll bug me until I drink it." She drank the now cold douse gave the cup back to her teacher and promptly went back to sleep.

Banira watched her for a while without moving then went over to her own roll, she could chance one hour, maybe two hours of sleep. She looked back over at Ammirra, _sorry Ammirra, but at the moment everything depends on your ignorance to the true extent of you mothers damage_. She put her head on the pillow and dozed off.

Well that's that! Sorry it took so long. Till the next chapter!

**Ja Ne**


	16. Chapter 16

**Disclaimer:** I don't own Shaman King.

Okay, first up, some MAJOR apologies for not posting in so long. I AM SOO SORRY! Next… some good and bad news. Good news, my dad had gotten my internet to work on my own comp… bad news….. my comp then crashed….. more good news, I now have use of my moms laptop till I get my own… which shouldn't take to too long, since I only have to pay for half of it myself. Ne way, now that's out of the way, on with the long awaited sixteenth chapter…

Chapter Sixteen 

_Messenger_

Hikyrrou took a deep breath. Now she had to tell Ammirra what had happened that day Lyserg joined Yoh's group. She hadn't been given the chance to do so until now. Ammirra had either been sleeping, or out somewhere; mind speech was not the best way to tell her teacher. Now she sat in front of the fire with her teacher; both Sutara and Banira were gone somewhere, so it was now or never.

"Um, sensei, there's something I need to tell you," Hikyrrou spoke up finally.

Ammirra looked up, "Yes?"

"Well, um, the same day you called me to Hao's camp, I had an encounter with my double." Hikyrrou looked at her hands, trying not to move them.

Ammirra cocked an eyebrow, "Why didn't you tell me this before?"

"Well um, the thing is, I was watching Yoh's group when he showed up."

Ammirra looked at her harshly, "And?"

"He knocked me into a bench, and the guys sort of saw me."

Ammirra said nothing for a moment, then looked back at the fire, "So who is he?"

Hikyrrou hugged her legs, "It's my brother."

"Ah," Ammirra said simply. "Well, no use crying over spilt milk, Hikyrrou."

Hikyrrou stared at her teacher, and then stood, arms locked at her side, hands balling into frustrated fists. "Sensei! How can you just sit there like that! Doesn't it bother you that my own _brother_ is my_double?_!"

Ammirra looked at her, face giving nothing away. She got calmly to her feet, "He's your double, you have to forget he was ever your brother." The wind-water shaman met the gaze of her frustrated pupil, eyes showing no sympathy, but the smallest spark of empathy in their grey depth.

The blue haired girl held her teachers gaze defiantly for a moment, but suddenly looked away. "Forget?" she bit her lip, trying to calm down a little, "You'd have me kill my own brother?"

"I'd have you kill your double, not your brother Hikyrrou. I'd have you kill him when you're ready, and your not." Ammirra's expression softened and she shook her head slightly.

Hikyrrou looked back at her master, "Then what… what am I supposed to do?"

Ammirra turned back to the now dead fire, "Leave it to me for now child," her voice was a gentle whisper. The more experienced shaman then sat, one knee up with her arm propped on it, and the other leg stretched out. "You can continue your training for now." Ammirra said, hearing her pupil turning, "Keep watching them. Trying not to be sensed will be good practice for you."

"Yes sensei," Hikyrrou said, voice flat. Then she winked out, leaving her teacher to sit alone.

The aqua haired shaman sighed, eyes fixed on the dead fire, "A cruel path has been set for you to walk, Hikyrrou"

"But not as cruel as yours, Imouto," Sutara said as she arrived back at their camp, taking a seat next to her sister.

"Nea-san." Ammirra didn't look at her sister. "My path wasn't set, only the general direction chosen."

Sutara frowned, looking away from her sister to the dead fire, "… But your destination has long been decided," she whispered. The fire flared back into life, and the red head got to her feet to add some wood.

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Hikyrrou silently tailed Yoh's group, hardly paying attention to them. As she walked behind them she mumbled under her breath. She should have been paying more attention, because they stopped. She nearly walked into them, but noticed just in time to hide herself before they felt her presence. Peeking out from her hiding place she hoped they hadn't heard her.

The young shaman watched silently as the group went into a church. Awhile later Ryu left with Tokegeroh to the movie theatre near by. She waited awhile until she was sure it was safe to come out of hiding. Then she carefully slipped back out onto the sidewalk and looked around. Seeing absolutely no one, she sat down against the wall of a building. "Couldn't they have chosen somewhere else…" she mumbled. Sighing, she leaned back; closing her eyes and listening more closely, so as not to be caught of guard.

It was silent for quiet some time. Then gradually Hikyrrou heard another group coming, and frowning, she hid herself again. She then came aware of something happening within the movie theatre. The young shaman remained concealed, listening to what was happening with Yoh's group. Her legs were starting to cramp from crouching in the shadows. "A vampire… that's just not possible," she mumbled to herself.

Lyserg ran out of the church to where the second group had blocked anyone form entering or exiting the town. Hikyrrou listened to the discussion held between the green haired shaman and this other group… the X-Laws. She wrinkled her nose then stood in disgust. She skilfully moved past them without being noticed at all, heading right for the church. She was not going to stand around and just listen if they intended to end another shaman's life without real cause.

Without warning the young shaman felt a hand grab her, and she was yanked into a nearby alley. Hikyrrou hit the hand away, whirling around to see who had grabbed her, small sparks flying. She stopped mid step and gasped, "Nea-san? What are you doing here?"

"Quite," Kassianna hissed, covering her sister's mouth with her hand. "Come on," the older bluenette pulled the younger girls arm.

Hikyrrou planted her feet firmly, biting her lip. Kassianna turned and looked back at her, sighing. "I'll explain a bit, just follow me already!"

Hikyrrou looked back at the ally entrance, listening intently. Then finally she looked back at her sister, "Fine."

Kassianna smiled briefly, then turned and head to the back of the ally. Here she jumped up the sides of the building onto the roof, without looking back to see if her little sister was following.

Hikyrrou almost called after her but managed to suppress the impulse. Nimbly she jumped up after Kassianna and the two sisters made there way over the rooftops and out of the town. Kassianna led her into a small bunch of trees. Curiously the apprentice elemental shaman looked around.

When she saw the outline of a figure within the shadow of the trees she froze, waiting a few moments for her eyes to adjust. To her utter surprise the branches seemed to bend, so that the leaves obstructed her view of the person.

From behind the leafy screen drifted out a young female voice, "I am Josephine. And you are Ammirra's young pupil are you not?"

Hikyrrou blinked, then nodded, "Yes… Josephine-sama." In her peripheral vision she saw her sister withdraw slightly.

"Please," Josephine started, "Relay this message to your teacher: Converge at the call, all heads for a head of all." Then Hikyrrou heard Josephine turn and leave. She turned to her sister questioningly.

Kassianna shrugged, "Yeah, she could have contacted Ammirra-sama her self… but I think she wanted to meet you."

This caused the young shaman to blink. "Why would she want to meet me?"

Kassianna laughed, "Your somewhat of a celebrity among us elemantalists, Hiks." She turned and left her sister standing in the middle of the grove.

The light-sound shaman sighed, then turned and left. She headed back to the camp, flinching slightly when her teacher looked up at her questioningly.

"Back so soon?" Ammirra got to her feet, aqua hair swishing with the movement. "Care to explain?" she asked, grey eyes flashing almost dangerously.

"I got pulled off by my sister," Hikyrrou started to explain. "Josephine-sama gave me a message to give you."

This caught Ammirra's full attention, "Lets hear it."

"She said, _Converge at the call, all heads for a head of all_, or something like that."

"Head of all…" Ammirra repeated, she frowned, sitting down at the fire. She closed her eyes and made contact with Josephine herself, asking a quick question. Then she laughed ruefully, "Now it seems… I've become the messenger."

AND I'm done. And I already have my laptop, I got like the day after I put the opening note in, ha. I just don't have internet on it yet. Yeah this chappie is sort of short but that's okay, I kinda wrote it after I finished writing the 17th and 18th chapters.

**JA NE**


	17. Chapter 17

**Disclaimer:**** I do not own Shaman King.**

First off, I must again apologize for how long it's taken me to post. I've got my laptop, have had it for ages. School got complicated for awhile, and other things happened. Well here's the seventeenth chappie, which was going to be the sixteenth chappie, but then I decided to make another one to go before it after I finished this one and realized how much I was skipping over so yeah. Enjoy!

**Chapter Seventeen**

_**X-Laws**_

Hikyrrou left her teacher shortly after relaying the message. She continued to tail Yoh's group boredly for a number of days. There was very little discussion whenever she went back to camp, and Ammirra always seemed to be lost in thought. Her teacher rarely moved in fact, and the girl was starting to worry. When she tried to speak with her teacher Ammirra would tell everyone she was tired and turn in for the night. Or, if it was during the day she would promptly send her pupil off on some task, tasks that were getting rather pointless. Ammirra did say one other thing to her though, she made her pupil promise not to mention the message she'd relayed from Josephine. This caused Hikyrou to worry even more. There was no way Banira did not know of it, at least that's what the bluenette thought. So if Banira knew, that left out only Sutara. Hikyrrou couldn't figure out what was so important about the message that Ammirra wanted to keep it secret from her own sister.

She thought to ask her teacher this when Sutara was away from their camp. So when the older shaman went off with Banira to replenish their food supplies she took her chance. She walked quietly over to her teacher, sitting down beside her. "Sensei," she began rather hurriedly, afraid her teacher might cut her off before she could asked. "I've been wondering…" She trailed off then, afraid Ammirra might not appreciate the question.

Ammirra looked over at her student, her grey eyes showing no annoyance. "Continue Hikyrrou," she quietly commanded.

"Well umm…… WhatwassoimportantaboutthatmessagefromJosephine-samaanyway?" the question came out in a rush, leaving Hikyrrou momentarily breathless.

Ammirra looked at her carefully, and then stood, sighing. "You'll know when it becomes necessary for you to know, not a moment sooner," she said curtly. "So I suggest you make better use of your time."

Hikyrrou bit her lip over the sarcastic response she wanted to give. Slowly she stood up, "Yes sensei." Then, before Ammirra could suggest something totally ridiculous, she said she'd go check on Horro's progress and left.

She found the group easily enough, arriving to the normal stupidity. At this point there was another boy, Chocolov, who was replacing Lyserg. Hikyrrou thought he was a complete idiot, and his jokes were the worst. At current they where in a gorge following the instructions of Lilirara's ancestors. Yoh was being an idiot; apparently he had no idea how to read a map. Chocolov was trying to come up with another joke, and Horro Horro was getting mad at Yoh.

That was when Hikyrrou saw the spirit, that armoured spirit belonging to the blue haired women from the Hana Gumi. Hikyrrou pondered going down there to help them. She knew for a fact that Yoh's group wouldn't be able to handle the Hana Gumi. In the end she decided to watch however. She could easily jump in if any of them was in danger of dying, no point in showing herself now. She sat up on the top of the cliff, her feet dangling over the edge.

As she had predicted Yoh and his group didn't stand a chance. One after another Yoh's friends were knocked down until Yoh was the only one left standing. She stood up, it couldn't be helped, and at this rate they would all be killed.

Just when she was about to jump in, two big shikigami showed up. One of them was blue and the other red. Her eyes widened, she had heard of these shikigami from Ammirra, "Zouki and Kouki? There supposed to be Hao's Shikigami, how did Anna get control of them?" She watched for a moment longer, "I should tell Ammirra-sensei." With that she blinked out.

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In a split second she got back to camp to find the others talking about random things. Something that was pretty rare, the camp was usually quite… especially of late. They all looked up as Hikyrrou appeared. Ammirra got to her feet, "Is there something you need to tell me?"

Hikyrrou nodded, "I just saw Zouki and Kouki, Anna was controlling them."

Ammirra's eyes narrowed, "Anna was controlling Hao's Shikigami?" Hikyrrou nodded again. Ammirra looked thoughtful for a moment, "Interesting… if she can control them then she probably came with _that_… hmmm." Ammirra ignored her pupils confused look, "Hikyrrou, I need you to go back there and keep an eye on them, if Anna mentions some special training contact me. Don't come back here though, you understand."

Hikyrrou nodded and blinked out again. Ammirra stared at the spot her student had just vacated for a moment before sitting back down. Then she smiled, "I wonder if he wants them to use it."

Banira looked at Ammirra but remained silent then she stood up. "Well if you're so curious why don't you go ask him yourself?"

Ammirra looked up at her teacher shocked for a moment then got to her feet as well. "Hmm, I guess I'll go, since its obvious Banira-sensei isn't going to tell me," she said aloud for her sister's benefit. _"Sensei, your not going to stop me if I go are you?"_ she asked her teacher privately. _"No,"_ was all she heard from her teacher. Ammirra grinned, "Catch you guys latter." The wind picked up and whisked her away.

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Hao was sitting on the top of the canyon watching Yoh and his friends talk about the training Anna was going to give Yoh and arguing on who should get to go. It was annoying; he just wanted them to get it over with instead of arguing about it. That's when the wind picked up and he looked behind him to see Ammirra arrive. He looked her in the eye for a moment then turned back to the scene below. Opacho jumped to her feet and ran to Ammirra.

"Ammirra-san! Opacho wonders how Ammirra-san is." The girl chirped and grabbed Ammirra's hand, pulling at it lightly.

Ammirra laughed and kneeled down, putting one hand on the girls head, "I'm fine Opacho. How have you been?" Absently she heard Hikyrrou contacting her but pushed it aside without another thought.

Opacho smiled and jumped up and down, "Opacho been good, but Opacho worried about Ammirra-san."

Ammirra smiled and patted the girl lightly on her head, "That's sweet of you Opacho." Ammirra then turned to Hao, walked to where he was sitting and sat down beside him. "So Hao, you want Yoh to get stronger using your memories from a thousand years ago. Or am I being to conclusive?"

Hao didn't look at her; Anna had just opened the portal. He nodded however, "He needs to be stronger."

Ammirra looked down at Yoh's group. She watched as Yoh, Ren, Ryu, Chocolov, Fuast VIII and Horro Horro walked into the portal. "Are you expecting him to come around to your way of thinking like this?" Out of the corner of her eye she saw him shake his head, otherwise there was no indication on what he was expecting.

After awhile he stood up, "I think I'll go mess with the human's mind a little." With that he left.

Ammirra stayed there and talked to Opacho until Hao got back, enjoying the cool night. When Yoh's group left the portal, and she found her attention directed to the X-Laws. The group did not stay long, but did allow them to catch the first glimpse of the new power Yoh and his friends had.

At this point in time Amirra left to talk breifly with her pupil, before sending her back to their camp. She did not return to the camp that night however. Instead she went around to the camps of some other water and wind elementals, conversing with them quitely. She did not sleep that night.

Ammirra relocated Yoh the next morning.She watched the Hanagumi lose to Yoh, Ren and Ryu. Then Hao got up and jumped down, walking through Yoh's group to his supporters. Ammirra continued to watch them. She had a feeling that the X-Laws would make a move on Yoh and his friends soon. She was curious about them, she wanted to see them really in action. A group dedicated to killing Hao was bound to be interesting, and she wished to see if they had a chance in ending his life.

She watched the anticipated attack by the X-Laws and saw Yoh perform the double medium. "So he can do that already? Interesting." Then she stood up. She wanted to check out the X-Laws' leader, this lady Jeanne they spoke of. She found it easy enough to locate the power of the X-Laws and teleported herself to their current location.

"Who are you!" Lyserg demanded of her after she appeared in front of the group.

Ammirra smiled, "Your Lyserg Deithel aren't you? My apprentice told me about you."

Lyserg looked shocked for a moment then his mood changed quickly to anger. "Your apprentice? Then you're the one who trained Hao!"

The rest of the X-Laws looked at Lyserg startled then turned accusatively to Ammirra. Ammirra's eyes had narrowed dangerously and her hair had slightly darkened, "I suggest you choose yours words wisely when speaking to me. That bastard was the one who choose to do things the bloody way, not me, brat."

Marco stepped forward, "You trained that murderer?" He was scowling at her like the rest of the X-Laws. The iron maiden had the face open and Jeanne as looking at Ammirra intently.

Ammirra laughed, "Trained that murderer? No I didn't train a murderer I trained an idiot, power went to his head and he ignored the most important lessons. He is a fool through and through."

Jeanne now spoke, "If he turned his back on you and started killing ruthlessly then why didn't you stop him? As the teacher you would know his capabilities."

Ammirra looked Jeanne right in the eyes, "If it had been possible believe me, I would have, at the time there was nothing I could do."

Mina stepped forward now, "What do you mean, there was nothing you could do, you should have been stronger than him then."

Ammirra kept her eyes on Jeanne's, she sighed, "Its not that simple, sure if I had been at full strength I could have stopped him easily. However by the time he started killing I was already dieing, because he had refused to learn the one thing that would have kept me alive. By association he was the one who killed me, what can a dead girl do?" She sat down then.

Jeanne stilled look at her intently, "Your name is Ammirra?" Ammirra nodded. Then the Iron Maidens face closed, "Ammirra, do you have the power to stop him now?" Her voice echoed slightly.

Ammirra laughed, "Stop him? No, and even if I did I'm busy with another more pressing problem."

Lyserg stepped forward then, "You must have some information that could help us beat him." Ammirra shook her head sadly. "Why not, you should know him better than anyone having trained him!"

Ammirra stood up again, her eyes clouded and her hair darker than before, "Know him? I guess I know him better than anyone, and that's why I know no matter what advice I give you it wont help you. Hao is not that stupid, he'll expect you to get advice from me and prepare himself against it." Then she smiled sadly, "Besides, as much as I hate to admit this, his power is a great asset to our side," the smile faded, "Especially if Netta is going to make a move anytime soon."

Marco advanced angrily, " What are you talking about, an 'asset to our side'? He is the enemy, a pure evil being!"

Ammirra scowled at him, "You don't know the definition of evil if you think _Hao_ is pure evil! If he werepure evil I wouldn't have been the one who trained him, Netta would have. As much as I know you won't believe this, Hao is as pure as snow compared to Netta and her followers!" Ammirra turned her back on them annoyed, "You people are bigger fools than I thought you would be, even with the gate of Babylon you can't win against Hao." They all looked at her shocked and she took the chance to transfer herself elsewhere via wind.

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She returned to her camp and sat down irritably, neither Banira or Sutara asking her what had happened. She stared at the fire and a moment later Hikyrrou arrived. Hikyrrou looked at Ammirra slightly annoyed, "Sensei, I told you when I heard Anna talking about training but you didn't even respond so don't get mad at me."

Ammirra looked up and laughed, "Sorry Hikyrrou, that's my fault, I was sort of busy, but I heard you."

Hikyrrou blinked then sat down, "That's a relief, I thought I might get in trouble for not informing you."

"I went there anyway to ask Hao something so you wouldn't have got in trouble." Ammirra resumed gazing fixedly at the fire. "I'm tired of waiting for Yoh's group to get to Patch Village, if they don't make it in the next week we're just going to go there."

Hikyrrou looked at the fire blankly as well, "They have directions now so it shouldn't take them to long."

Ammirra snorted, "They have a larger group now, with a midget in the ranks, their pace is going to slow down." Hikyrrou gave a short 'oh' and then silence blanketed the camp comfortably. They all just sat there not speaking to any one until the sun started to set. Still no one spoke but Hikyrrou and Sutara went to get some food. They came back before the sun had fully gone down with fish and fruit. Ammirra groaned, she had had entirely too much fish lately. However she didn't stop eating till there was nothing left, seeing as she hadn't eaten since the day before.

The sun finished setting and night advanced until everyone said good night and crawled into her sleeping roll. However, after everyone else had fallen asleep Ammirra found herself wide-awake. She sat up and looked at the stars. _I wish there was one place on earth that the stars looked more like I remember them in my childhood, just one_, she thought wistfully. That was when Hao made mind contact with her for the first time since he had stopped training with her a thousand years back. _"Ammirra, would you mind coming to my camp for a chat?"_ Ammirra blinked, why would Hao be asking her to come for a chat?

_"Why should I? Knowing you, you just want me in your bed or something,"_ She sent the message back with a hint of scorn at the idea.

Hao didn't respond for awhile, but when he did his words seemed truthful, _"No, there's just something I thought you would appreciated seeing, and a few things I want to ask you."_

Ammirra blocked her thoughts carefully and weighed his words, trying to determine if he was lying or not. _"If I do come do you swear on becoming Shaman King your not intending something perverted?"_ She asked him, knowing already he wasn't lying to her.

Hao's answer was immediate,_ "Nothing perverted, I swear. Of course if you want it I won't object."_ He added the last in a teasing tone.

Ammirra scowled, _"You would!"_ She made the words a mental slap.

Hao's answer sounded almost hurt, _"Is that a no?"_

Ammirra laughed outwardly,_ "Did I say that it was?"_

Hao's response sounded like he was laughing, _"Why do you think I'm asking?"_

Ammirra sighed, she didn't see any harm in going, if something happened she didn't like she could just leave, but she didn't really see a point in going either.

_"Ammirra?" _

That was when she heard someone moving. She looked over in Banira's direction to see her teacher awake. "You should go Ammirra."

Ammirra's eyes widened, "Sensei?"

Banira smiled at her student's confusion, "It seems Hao is interested in you, not just your body. You should go, maybe you can find out why. Of course its your decision to go or not." Ammirra and Banira gazed at the burnt out fire for a moment. Banira knew very well what Ammirra would do. She smiled softly to herself, keeping her thoughts private,_ step two complete_.

* * *

DONE!!!!!! Um I think the endings a little lacking but if I continue I would take away from the next chapter so that's it.

**Ja Ne**


	18. Chapter 18

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Shaman King. If I did I wouldn't be writing this.**

Well here goes the next chappie! Hope you all find it enjoyable!!

**Chapter Eighteen**  
_**Hoshi**_

Hao was sitting in front of the fire, gazing at the flames distractedly. Ammirra hadn't responded in awhile and he wondered if maybe she was asleep. It wasn't like it mattered, he could take her there another time if he had to. He sighed, he wanted it to be tonight, it would mean more that way; after all it was her birthday. He didn't really care about that but he knew it would give him more of an edge with her. By doing this, and avoiding sexuality, he could entice her to him. If it worked that is, she might be expecting something like that. He grinned, of course it would work, hadn't he already managed to kiss her, more than once, when any other man who had tried was killed? She had already let him in enough for him to get his way; he just had to be patient. Soon enough Ammirra would be his.

"_Hey Ammirra, are you coming or not?"_ He asked her, getting a little impatient.

She didn't answer right away but she didn't sound tired, _"Why not. Hold on a sec."_ Then he felt nothing where she had been, his grin broadened. The wind picked up off to his right and he stood up. Ammirra appeared out of her usual whirlwind and Hao turned to look at her.

"So what is it you wanted to show me?" Ammirra asked him, looking him right in the eye.

Hao walked up till he was right in front of her, "You'll see." Then he put an arm around her waist before she could protest and teleported them in his flames.

Kanna was watching from behind a rock near Hao's fire and when she saw the two disappear in Hao's flames she walked off fuming. Even if she knew where Hao and that bitch had gone she wouldn't be able to follow easily. As much as it tore her to do so, she had no choice but to wait till Hao returned.

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When they arrived at their destination Ammirra was ready to hit Hao hard if he didn't let her go. However, to her surprise, almost the moment they arrived he released her. She looked at him astonished for a moment, and then took in her new surroundings. There didn't appear to be anything special about this location. It was a little valley with a waterfall, a small lake and a slow river leaving the lake. There were pine trees, a few cedars, some birch and one huge oak tree.

She looked back at Hao and cocked an eyebrow. Hao merely glanced upward, and Ammirra followed his gaze sceptically. She froze, what she saw was impossible. She kept staring until Hao's voice snapped her back, "Is that more like how they used to be?"

"It is," she said in little more than a whisper. Ammirra looked slowly back at him, "How did you find this place?"

Hao shrugged, "Doesn't matter."

Ammirra looked back up at the sky and the stars. She smiled softly, then frowned, "Why would you bother bringing me here?"

He had been expecting this question, "To show you that its possible to bring back the world you once knew. It only condemns the world if you think nothing can be done."

She looked sharply at him, "That's the only reason? No, I know you too well to think that's all. What else?"

Hao smiled and started walking towards the oak tree. When he was beside Ammirra he said, "Happy Birthday," and continued walking.

Ammirra whirled and stared motionlessly after him a moment, just watching as he stopped at the oak tree and sat down. Her heart was beating rapidly and she realized that Hao had been slowly making her fall for him. She shook her head, she couldn't believe she hadn't noticed till now, but why would Hao go through the trouble of making her fall for him like that if he was just going to toss her aside like he did with all the others? Why would he go through the trouble if he knew that all he had to do was beat her? She had to believe that he wanted more from her than physical pleasure.

She made up her mind and started towards him. He was looking up and made no move at her approach, so he must have been expecting her to come over. So she sat down beside him at the base of the tree and then did something he couldn't have been expecting. She leaned into him, placing her head on his shoulder, "Thank you."

Hao looked down surprised, then smiled and wrapped an arm around her, things where going much faster than he had anticipated. He took a lock of her hair lightly in his other hand for a moment then let it fall softly. Her bangs were a soft pink. "You know, I think pink really is your colour," he teased her.

She looked up at him and then suddenly got up. "Since you went through all the trouble to bring me here, I think it would only be polite if we did something rather than sit around," then she laughed and looked at Hao still sitting against the tree. "And I don't mean any thing sexual."

Hao stood up slowly and dusted off his trousers lazily, "Fine with me. What do you want to do then?"

"First off," Ammirra took her pack, which Hao hadn't even noticed she had brought with her, off her back, "I want to change so I can swim in the lake." She started looking through her bag and caught Hao's crooked grin. She looked up at him sharply, "And if you even _think_ about peeking you'll wish you had been neutered like a dog when I'm done with you."

Hao looked at her then turned around and walked to the other side of the oak tree, leaning against it with his arms crossed over his chest.

Ammirra looked after him a moment then continued to dig through her bag. She pulled out a pair of dark green shorts with her tribal print on them in white and then a pale yellow tank top that also had her tribal print in white. She slipped off her boots first, which where white today, then her blue pants and finally her white shirt with one long sleeve and one short one. Quickly she pulled on the tank top and then the shorts. She looked over her shoulder to make sure Hao was still in the same place, though she would have known if he had moved. Then she took hold of her hair ribbon, which was blue, and pulled it out letting her hair fall to her waist. She placed it in her bag and pulled out a white one. She pulled her hair back and deftly secured it back in it's ponytail, leaving her bangs out as always. Then she removed her white glove on her right hand, her oracle bell on her left, and finally she took off her pendant, placing all three in her bag. She picked up her boots and her bag and placed them at the foot of the oak before walking around the massive trunk.

"Are you going to swim in a poncho Hao?" She asked sweetly before Hao had noticed she had finished.

He looked over at her and froze; even though she was less dressed up than usual she looked twice as good. He looked her up and down, yes; it had to be that she was showing more of herself than usual. _Damn she's hot_, he thought privately then grinned. He took off his poncho his gloves, his oracle bell and his boots. He caught her looking at him, mouth slightly agap, and chuckled. "Well are we going swimming or are you going to stand there gawking?"

Ammirra looked at him angrily and whirled in the direction of the lake. She struck off irritably but after a few steps she found herself smiling, keping her thoughts to herself carefully. She giggled and turned back to Hao who hadn't moved, "Well are you coming or not?"

Hao remained where he was for a moment longer then smirked and walked up to Ammirra, "It doesn't have to be a shaman fight does it?" He had remembered something Sutara had mentioned when she didn't know he was listening.

Ammirra blinked, utterly clueless, "What?"

"To claim you I have to beat you, but it doesn't have to be a shaman fight does it?" Hao asked again. He had a chance to take her now, and he wasn't going to miss it.

Ammirra gaped, "How… how did you know… about that?" She couldn't deny what was truth.

Indeed if a man wanted a woman of her tribe, whether part of the tribe or not, he didn't have to beat her in a shaman fight. There were other ways, but she was unfamilair with most.. However this kind of challenge could be turned down, unlike if he challenged her to a fight. And most of these other options would be stacked highly in the favour of the female, so very few challenges of this type where made. So really a guy stood little chance of winning this way, if the girl happened to agree to the challenge.

"I heard it somewhere," Hao's smirk broadened.

Ammirra frowned, "And do you now how much such a challenge is favourable to the female? And that she can refuse it?"

Hao kept his eyes locked with hers, "I know."

"Then you know how futile such a thing is. You stand less of a chance that way then if you challenged me to a fight. Much less. That is, if anyone even remembers what the other challenges are. I sure don't" She turned to the lake and started towards it again.

Hao grabbed her wrist causing her to look back at him, "_If_ I were to fail am I able to challenge you again?"

She pulled her wrist away and frowned, "Only if it's a challenge for a fight. Why?"

Hao's eye's flashed, and then he shrugged casually "I was just curious. " He snaked one arm around her waist and pulled her to him, "You can't refuse a challenge for a fight." It wasn't a question. Ammirra pushed at him trying to make him let go, but he merely pulled her closer. She continued to struggle but Hao wasn't going to let go. He leaned in, tilting his head slightly, and seized her lips for the fourth time.

Ammirra stopped struggling, her heart racing again. Her eyes closed, and slowly her tensed muscles relaxed. Again she found herself kissing him back, and when she did Hao wanted more. He coaxed her mouth open expertly and slid his tongue in. He knew he was in complete control, Ammirra had next to no experience in this department. Here he was the teacher and she was the pupil. They kept kissing till they had to stop for breath. Hao broke the kiss but kept his face near hers as they regained their breath.

Ammirra looked him in the eye then suddenly turned away, still panting, "That was uncalled for."

Hao frowned, gently turning her towards him, "What, don't tell me you didn't enjoy it."

"That's not… I mean…you just…that was just so sudden," Ammirra stammered. She pushed away from him and he let her go. "Damn it Hao! Why do you have to be so… so," she looked down at her feet and shook her head.

Hao cocked an eyebrow, " 'So' what?" he asked, then added teasingly, "good at kissing? Hot?"

Ammirra looked up at him coldly, "Pushy." She whirled and walked to the shore of the lake. Without turning back she waded into the water till it was waist deep and she stood at the edge of a drop off. She looked back up at the stars. They really were like the ones she remembered in her first life. A single tear escaped her eyes and she blinked, shook her head and dived into the water.

Hao stared at the ripples for a moment, wondering what had kept him form issuing the challenge. He had had the perfect opportunity but he didn't take it. The reason came to him like a jolt of electricity. He realized how he really felt about her, the feelings that he had denied.

He shook his head, why did he feel this way, it was weak! No, no it wasn't, he had never thought that love made you weak, no it was everything that came with it. The worry for the one you loved that made you weak. He had known it would happen eventually, there was nothing he could do about that. Love was like a cold; it found a way to get a hold of you eventually no matter what precautions you took against it.

He smiled ruefully, "Looks like I better get serious about this." He had always expected that when he fell in love he would end up being killed for good because of it. If his double knew they would use the one he cared for to kill him. But then he hadn't expected it to be Ammirra. No, he hadn't expected it to be someone who could fight back and kill his enemies easily. If it was Ammirra then he didn't have to worry… as much.

Ammirra surfaced a few feet from where she had dived, "Are you coming in or are you going to stand on the bank looking like an idiot?"

Hao chuckled and started wading into the water. _Her mood changes faster than her apprentice can move_, he thought privately. He dived at the drop off and swam underneath Ammirra coming up behind her.

Ammirra hadn't been expecting it and he grabbed her around the waist. She squealed, "Hey!" She started squirming helplessly in his grip. "That's not fair," she whined when she couldn't free herself, "let me go!"

He laughed, "What? I'm only using one arm."

Ammirra froze, embarrassed. She had tried her best to get away, but she couldn't. She could have teleported using the water to move her to the other side of the lake in seconds, but it hadn't occurred to her "Damn," she said then teleported herself out of his grip. She glowered at him. Then her expression lightened and she giggled, "Are you sure you don't want to become the surprise king instead of the shaman king?"

Hao chuckled again then looked her in the eyes, fire burning in his own. "Positive," he closed the gap between them and put one hand under her chin, "And I intend to make you my shaman queen."

For a moment Ammirra was sure he was fooling her, but his face was serious and his eyes held so much passion he couldn't be joking around. She almost forgot to tread water and sunk a little before she caught herself. What had got into him, he was never like this. She could have sworn that Hao actually had feelings for her. Mechanically she pushed away and swam back to the waist deep water. She turned back to him, no emotion showing in her features, hair returned to normal. "Do you know the reason for the challenges?"

Hao joined her in the waist deep waters, "No, care to tell me?"

Ammirra sighed, "Well, the reason behind it is pretty simple really. In my tribe no man has the right to any women he can't protect with his own two hands." She laughed at the idea, " And a woman isn't aloud to use furyoku in any way while she is pregnant, waiting to be married and the week of her anniversary every year after she is married." Ammirra snorted, "She is allowed to if her life or children's life depends on it but that's supposed to be a mans job."

She turned away from him, "It's also considered rude to use furyoku on the birthday of her child, or children. Doing so could get her shunned, I have no idea why though." Ammirra looked back at Hao, eye's flashing, "For that reason it became custom for a man to prove himself before asking a women for her hand. The most common way was to fight her and prove himself that way." Again Ammirra laughed, "However just because a man can't beat a woman doesn't mean he can't protect her with his wits. For this reason the other challenges were developed, so a couple could have a chance to get together without people talking about the man not proving himself." She shrugged as if she didn't care much for the idea, "This slowly changed from custom to tradition and then finally to law, that if broken, would bring upon the breakers terrible shame, and most often death."

Hao stared, "That's a lot of trouble over a simple thing don't you think."

"I never said I agreed with it. But I wouldn't marry a man who couldn't beat me anyway. I wouldn't even think of it" Ammirra shook her head, "but that's not even all the restrictions. A women can't be caught in bed with a man if he has not proven himself, she can't marry till sixteen and can't have her first child _born_ until she is sixteen." She pushed her wet bangs out of her face and continued, "If a child is born before she turns sixteen then she is considered unethical, and unfit to keep her child. And a mother at sixteen is usually doubted by many, though they can't take her child form her since she is officially an adult."

Hao ran a hand though his hair, "That's a lot of restrictions on what should be private. Does a girl get penalized if she is pregnant while she is fifteen?"

Ammirra shook her head, "No, only if there is more than eight months before her sixteenth birthday. And she doesn't even have to be married, as long as the father has proved himself."

Hao blinked, "Why are we even talking about this?"

Unexpectedly Ammirra splashed him and giggled before going serious again, "To make sure you know what you might get yourself into before you jump in headfirst."

This caused Hao to laugh outright. "If… if you think I'm going to… give up because of those… ridiculous restrictions… your fooling yourself Ammirra." his words where punctuated by laughs though he was trying to keep it under control.

Ammirra blinked, _it seems I got my answer without even asking the question._ She moved cheerily onto the shallower water that only reached mid-calf. "I wasn't even thinking that. I know you will try as long as it takes to get your _satisfaction_."

He went immediately silent, almost glaring at Ammirra. He moved towards her, "Are you suggesting I'm just some horny guy looking for the next person he wants to get laid with?"

Ammirra laughed, "No, I'm saying that you think with the wrong head half the time." She splashed him again; she was just teasing him of course. She always teased the guys who thought to make her theirs. It provided her with a little amusement. Although once they actually tried to move in on her she killed them. "Like all men," she added and then splashed him yet again.

He frowned, not bothering to cover his face before the water hit him. He moved forward and grabbed her wrist, pulling her towards him till their faces where only inches apart. "If that was the case right now, I wouldn't be bothering myself with the stupid restrictions and traditions of your tribe," he gave her wrist a slight twist. Ammirra tried to push herself away form him, but he tightened his grip on her wrist until she gasped with pain. "You'd be on the shore naked and submitting to me whether you wanted it or not." Ammirra didn't like the way he was acting, or the way he was handling her. She had only teased him a little so why had he gotten so mad at her? She was about to slap him when he suddenly pushed away.

The abruptness of it set her off balance and she staggered then, losing her balance completely she started to fall. Hao blinked, the anger that had been so evident only moments before gone now. He caught her neatly, hands on her shoulders and looked down at her. For some reason she appeared to be scared, _scared of me_? Had what he said really scared her that much, or was it the way he had said it. Whichever it was, he felt sorry now, he shouldn't have gotten so mad at her. Hao dropped his hands slowly and turned away from her, why was he acting like such a fool, things had been going so smoothly!

Ammirra stared at him, she wanted to just walk away, but she couldn't make her legs work. Then she thought over what he had said, and realized it wasn't that he was mad at her for saying he was like other men who thought only of sex when they are with a hot girl. No, it was that she was implying he would act that way towards _her_, not towards other girls. He wanted her to know that he didn't think about her the same way he would about some other girl. It was just that Hao wasn't one to understand such things about himself, and when he got angry he just said the first thing that came to him. They where fools both.

Then Hao turned back to her, a determined look on his face, "Ammirra, I challenge you to a fight."

Ammirra looked him in the eye, shocked. Then, her features set; she couldn't turn down his challenge. She tightend her ponytail, then let her hands dropped to her side, "Your challenge is accepted…"

* * *

Wootness, all done!

Hee hee, I feel evil…. Oh dear, this is what happens when you write a chapter without a plan…. Oopsy, that last bit wasn't supposed to happen…. But it sounded good and I wrote it totally on the spur of the moment… sooooo, well yeah. That's the chappie… longer then I intended to… hmmmm

**JA NE!**


	19. Chapter 19

**Disclaimer:**** I don't own Shaman King**

And now the nineteenth chapter! Nearly at 20, yay! Anyway, hope u like it.

Warning, this chapter is the first reason for the M rating.

**Chapter Nineteen**

_**Breaking point**_

Hao watched her expectantly as she adjusted her ponytail. Though he already knew what her response would be he started to grow impatient waiting. He couldn't help but grin when she finally spoke. "Your challenge is accepted…" She said slowly, voice even. However he could tell she had more to say, and his grin faded. "However," she started, and he nearly flinched at that single word. "It's going to have to wait for awhile." She offered no explanation for this, just went silent. He waited awhile, half expecting her to start explaining.

When she didn't he frowned, moving forward so they were only inches apart, "Why?" He looked down on her relentlessly, eyes commanding her to answer him.

Ammirra turned away, moving back to the shore. "I cannot fight," She said quietly, as if she feared unfriendly ears hearing. Watching her carefully he realized there was indeed fear in her voice, and it showed itself subtly in her movements.

This worried him, and he moved forward, gently touching her arm. "Tell me," he encouraged softy. He turned her, using his free hand to tilt her head up so he could look in her eyes. "Please," he whispered now.

Ammirra leaned into him, not for comfort, but to be able to speak as quietly as possible. "I haven't fully recovered. If I have to sustain my furyouku at a fighting level… It'll… I'm afraid it'll catch up with me." She was of course referring to the disease that had killed her so many times before.

Hao's eyes widened momentarily, and he let his arms slip around her. "Ammirra…I wont let it take you again," he said quietly. "I won't leave you as I did then." He pulled her closer and kissed her forehead, "You're going to be mine, I will not forfeit you to some disease."

"You haven't beaten me yet," she mumbled, pushing away gently. "But… Thanks anyway." She continued into the shade of the trees. There was a cool breeze, and since she was wet she felt chilled. She shivered despite herself, hugging herself for warmth.

Hao sighed, moving to were he had placed his poncho. He dropped it on her head, "Even you can catch a cold." He then gathered some wood, piling it in the center of a grass cleared circle just far enough from any trees. He lit the pile, and then sat down near the fire.

Ammirra looked at him, then pulled his poncho on, and went to sit next to him. She sighed, her hair would dry with a kink in it of she didn't let it down. She reached back and pulled out the ribbon, letting it fall down. She ran her fingers through her wet hair, it was too long. Her bangs 

to were too long also, a few inches longer than shoulder length. She could see Hao looking at her surprised from the corner of her eye. Ignoring him she stood, so it would be easier. She summoned the wind carefully, cutting her hair so it was the same length as her bangs. She then trimmed her bangs to chin length. She gathered her hair in two bundles, the long and short, and put the bundles into two different silk bags she pulled out of her pack. Returning to the fire she noticed Hao staring at her, dumfounded. "What?"

He looked away, into the flames, "I've never seen you with your hair down before." He shrugged, "Why'd you cut it?"

"It was getting to long, easy to grab," Ammirra said as she started to pull her hair back into a ponytail.

Hao grabbed her wrist, "Leave it down. I like it." He smiled when she slowly let her hands drop back down to her lap. He pushed a lock of wet hair behind her ear. He withdrew a little then, sitting as he had before. "You're beautiful, Ammirra," He grinned, "absolutely." He looked at her carefully, her strange aqua hair, which was probably wavy when dry, her soft grey eyes, her fair, smooth skin, the development of soft and attractive curves in her current body, her full, soft pink lips, how slight she was, her well shaped hands, her cute nose… in his opinion she had the face and body of an angel.

"What?" Ammirra asked, sounding a little uncomfortable. She shivered, and then sneezed. She realized then how cold she was, and pulled his poncho around her, covering herself.

Hao grinned, and held an arm out to her, hand on her back, "Come here." She looked at him, blinking, then scooted over so she was leaning into him. He wrapped his arm around her, pulling her a little closer. "Better?"

"Yes," she said quietly, closing her eyes. They stayed like that a long while, Hao watching the fire, Ammirra nearly falling asleep. Finally she pushed away, "I should head back."

Hao stood, pulling her up with "I'll take you back to your camp."

She moved away from him, retrieving her pack and her boots. "If you insist," she said turning back to him.

"I do," He said simply, moving to her and wrapping his arm around her waist. He moved them to Ammirra's camp, and waited a moment before letting her go. Everyone appeared to be asleep. He touched her cheek lightly, before brushing her lips with his, "Sleep well." Then he released her and was gone.

She stared at the spot he had been, then set up her sleeping roll, relit the dying fire, and curled up. Sleep came to her almost instantly, and for the first few hours she rested peacefully. After that a disturbing shadow entered her dreams, turning it restless. After a few more hours she woke, sweating. It was still dark out, and the night was cold. Despite this Ammirra felt overwhelmingly hot.

She got up, pulling her hair up and grabbing a ribbon from her pack to secure it with. She looked down in disgust at her wrinkled, sweaty clothes. Sighing she grabbed a change of clothes and started to walk to a nearby river. Reaching it after ten minutes she looked up and down the bank until she found what she wanted. There was a pool that had formed beside the river when it flooded with rain water. It had rained earlier that day, so the water would be clean, and the night air would have cooled it. The pool was also surrounded almost entirely by trees, so it gave her some measure of privacy. This pleased her.

She moved into the trees to the water, dipping one foot in to test it. Finding the water to her liking she stripped, kicking her dirty clothes to one side, and stepped in. the cold water caused her to shiver, but she ignored that slight discomfort. She washed her newly cut hair, before washing her body and face. After getting used to the temperature the water was absolutely heavenly. With a sigh of remorse she slowly pulled herself out, summoning a very gentle wind to dry herself off. She left her hair damp, and began to pull on her under clothes.

She froze, feeling someone was watching her. She had just picked up the silk breast band when the feeling made itself known. She shivered again, though this time not from the cold. Nervously she searched the place with her mind, and relieved she found nothing.

However, she was wrong. There was indeed someone watching her. They were breathing heavily, a sickening look in their eyes. Their hair was pitch black, and their eyes an almost feral yellow. They were undoubtedly male, with a large build, and well toned muscles. He wore no shirt, only a pair of dark red pants.

Ammirra continued to dress, now pulling up another pair of shorts; this pair was black and had no print. As she did them up the man slipped out of his hiding place and moved towards her. When she reached down to retrieve her clean shirt he grabbed her damp hair and yanked back on it. It was hard to grip, so he had to grab a large chunk of it.

Ammirra let out a pained gasp, but could manage no more as the mans hand roughly covered her mouth. She tried to draw on her furyouku, but found to her horror she could not.

The man let her hair go and quickly grabbed her wrists, binding them together. He then pulled a strip of thick cloth from his pants pocket and gagged her. He turned her roughly and pushed her back into a tree so she could not escape. "Remember me?" he asked, his voice rough.

And unfortunately, she did remember him. He was one of the shaman she had fought in a previous life, one of the men who had wanted her. He was a water shaman too, so although she had killed him, he had come back…

He grinned lopsidedly at the look of recognition in her eyes. He had very nearly defeated her, and he also knew of her disease. He must have been watching her for some time, because he seemed to know she could not attack back.

In her weakened state she didn't stand a chance… as a result Ammirra was utterly terrified. She was to terrified to scream, even if she wasn't gagged. She was even to scared to try to send out a mental plea for help. This overwhelming terror was mirrored in her now very pale hair.

He threw her to the ground, then sat on her midsection so she could not move. He then untied one of her wrists, raising her hands above her head. He took the loose end of the rope and wound it around a tree trunk before rebinding her free wrist.

He grabbed her breast band, ripping it off with a jerk. He tossed the ruined undergarment carelessly to the side, licking his lips. He looked down at her breasts hungrily. She was a little underdeveloped for his liking… but he had expected that, due to the age of her current body. "You won't slip away from me this time," He said roughly, hands cupping her developing bust.

His breathing was uneven, already aroused. He squeezed her flesh in his hands.

Ammirra struggled, pulling against the rope. She tried to free herself as well by attempting to kick him, but that did not work. So instead she tried to distance her mind from her body. That did not work either. The bulge in his pants made it impossible to 'forget' what was about to happen.

He dealt her several blows to the face, to stop her from thrashing about. She lay there, sobbing and shaking. Grinning he turned his attention back to her breasts. He leaned down, and took one of her nipples into his mouth. He sucked on it roughly.

Ammirra started to squirm under him again, and he lifted his head and struck her as he had before. By now her face was blood streaked as well as tear streaked. She felt utterly helpless, and that as more terrifying than anything. Hair purely, she could feel the wind pick up around her. But with the wind came severe pain, and abruptly it stopped.

The pressure in his pants had become to much, and he straightened himself. Breathing raggedly he roughly pulled down her shorts, tossing them aside. He looked at her panties for a moment, before he pulled them off as well, fully exposing her naked body. He fumbled with his pants, as he brought her underwear to his nose. He breathed in the scent, then grunted, getting his pants undone. With a sense of urgency he pulled his own pants off, freeing his swollen length from their restraint.

Ammirra's eyes widened for a moment, before she closed them as tight as she could. Her body tensed, and she waited for what she knew would come next… but it never did.

Instead she felt a warm sticky liquid splatter on her body and face, and a single grunt. Then there was a thud next to her. She opened her eyes to see a spike of wood… covered in blood.

* * *

And that's a wrap!

That was kinda awkward to write…. I was writhing a little inside….

Ah well, it is done now. So till the next one!

**Ja Ne!**


	20. Chapter 20

Disclaimer: I do not own Shaman king (monotonous voice)

Hey People. Here's chapter twenty! Enjoy!

**Chapter 20**

_**Heart**_

He stood absolutely still, just listening. He was listening with both his ears, and his mind. He felt the touch of a hot wind on his face… a sudden pick up in heat and pressure. That he new was not natural… but it was soon gone. His brow furrowed in concentration and he lowered his head. He listened even more carefully then before. Then he moved, silently, deliberately, with his head still tilted toward the ground. He moved swiftly, and almost gracefully. His long legs covered a lot of distance with very little effort on his part. His arms stayed at his side the whole time, one of his strong hands cocked slightly. He could hear a river… but he heard blows to. Three… four of them.

He moved quicker, legs pumping, nearly in a run, but still he was silent. He heard the soft fall of fabric, and then harsh breathing was audible. A man, he guessed, and someone struggling beneath him. He scowled; now close enough to hear the man fumbling with his pants. Again the fall of fabric to the ground.

His cocked hand came up in an instant, and he could hear the creaking of wood, and feel the split of air as something moved through it with startling speed. There was a sickening, wet sound of flesh being punctured, a grunt, and then a thud which he could feel through his feet. He remained still for awhile, and then straightened himself out. As he did so a creaking sound indicated the receding of something. He raised his head, and the pale moonlight hit his face, revealing his eyes to be milky white. His hair was sun bleached white, not that he really cared. "Are you alright?" he asked, looking straight ahead of him. He could hear movement, and what he thought was a muffled cry. "Hold on," he said, lowering himself into a kneeling position. Slowly he reached out, until he touched skin. "Sorry," he apologized, realizing he hand touched her breast. He found her arm, and then careful moved his hand up to her mouth. Taking out the gag he moved to the rope next. Carefully he figured out the not, and undid it. He was growing worried that she had not said anything yet, though he could hear her sobbing. The voice, he thought, was familiar.

Then she spoke, "Cegoved!" First he identified relief. "If you hadn't of come I… He…" she sobbed.

"Ammirra?" he asked, almost incredulously. He sighed, and since he did not know where her clothes were he took of his jacket, draping it over her shoulders after a moment of trying to discern exactly were she was. He heard her gasp suddenly, and pull his jacket around her tightly. He couldn't help but laugh a little, "Come now Ammira, you know I can't see anything. How do you feel? Do you want me to stay, or go while you get cleaned up and dressed?"

Her reply was some time in coming, and her voice shook, "stay… please… I'd rather not be alone."

"I understand," he said soothingly, "I'll remain right here. Then I'll take you to your sister. Your going to be fine Ammirra, you'll be just fine." He smiled in what he hoped was a reassuringly way, placing a hand on her arm, his blind gaze falling straight ahead of him.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

"Are you sure you want me to go ahead? I do not mind accompanying you to tell them," Cegoved said, his sightless stare going right over her head. Ammirra shook her head, though she knew he could not see it. He probably heard the whipping of her hair because he nodded, and the turned, "Alright then, I'll go ahead with Earth and Metal. Don't forget your young pupil."

"I won't," she said quietly, watching him leave with blonde man, and a black haired woman. She turned slowly then, and started to walk back to her camp. She looked down at her feet as she walked. Just her luck…she'd received the sign for gathering just after…she shook her head. "Don't think about it, just don't," she mumbled to herself. She had to tell the other three now, because the elements had to gather.

Ahead she could see her three companions in their sleeping rolls. She moved silently to her teacher first, touching her lightly on the shoulder, "Sensei, it's time," she whispered. Banira sat up, and looked at her student. Ammirra could tell that the older girl knew, "I'll be alright, Sensei," she said hoarsely. "I'll just get Hikyrrou up, and then go to his camp."

Banira watched her carefully as she moved to Hikyrrou, "Wake up Hikyrrou!" she shook the girl. "Go with Banira Sensei." Then she stood, without looking back at her student who was rubbing her eyes and mumbling. She walked out of the camp.

As she walked she concentrated on other events, hoping to keep her mind off of what had happened. She was grateful now that the camps of her fellow elementals were all fairly close together, even though that had been by chance. Even so she wished his camp was closer than it was. It was the farthest away, and it would take her an hour to walk there. Then she stopped, and laughed at herself. Why didn't she just contact him with her mind and ask him to come? Then she would not have to walk all the way there. She tried, and then frowned because she got no response. "He must be asleep," she mused, before she started to walk again.

When she was halfway there she stopped once more, and tried again. Still she got no response. She sighed, and continued the rest of the way. She slowed when could just make out the outline of sleeping bodies around burnt out fires. She headed for the one she thought was his.

She looked around for him, and spotted him leaning up against a rock. It looked like he hadn't intended on falling asleep. She laughed dryly, before she moved to him. She knelt by his side, and gentle touched his arm. "I tried to call you," she murmured quietly, giving his arm a shake. "Come on, wake up."

He stirred, so she backed away a little. He opened his onyx as, looking around for the one who had woke him. When he saw Ammirra he sat up straight, "Ammirra, what are you doing here?" he asked groggily.

"We have to go meet the others. Hurry up," Ammirra said, calmly… until the last word. Her voice went up in near hysteria. The girl hoped he had not caught it.

He did, and he stood slowly, looking at her. He gestured with one hand, re-lighting the fire. His black eyes moved over her, and stopped on her wrists, with the marks from the rope. His eyes grew wide, and shot back to her face, noticing the cuts, and the large bruise already forming on her cheek. "What happened?" he asked her, reaching out to touch her cheek lightly.

She winced and stepped back, "It's… it's n-nothing. Lets g-g-go." She turned to leave, hands shaking.

"Ammirra," he said softly, placing a hand on her shoulder. "Please, tell me what happened. This isn't like you…"

She stiffened, her breathing uneven. "N-nothing happened," she tried to convince him. "N-nothing at a-all." Lies! A voice in her head screamed, Lies, lies lies, LIES! She dropped to the ground, hand covering her ears. "No! Nothing happened! It didn't happen! He didn't…" her voice cracked and she could say no more.

He looked at her in shock. What was she talking about… his eyes moved to her wrists again. Rope. No… she couldn't have been. Not Ammirra. He shook his head, and tried to think of something else. Since he could not he hesitantly listened to her unguarded thoughts. "Ammirra," he murmured, dismayed. He dropped down to his own knees behind her. "Ammirra," he could not find any other words. He touched her shoulder, and then impulsively pulled her back into him, wrapping his arms around her protectively. "I'm so sorry, I shouldn't have left you alone." He murmured. The shaman then proceeded to move her hand, so he could whisper comforting things to her… well, things he thought would be comforting. "Let me make you forget," he said finally, when he could only calm her a little.

She froze, then turned her head to look at him. Make her forget… make it seem to all go away. She hadn't actually been… but she just didn't want to recall that it had almost happened. "Hao," she cried his name, turning herself so she could burry her face in his poncho. She continued to ball, shaking with hysterical sobs.

"Shh, it's alright," Hao murmured, "You don't have to remember it anymore. It's alright." He hoped it would be. He placed one hand of her forehead, "Just relax, and everything will be alright again." However, he could not make himself wipe her memory, afraid he could do more damage, so instead he concentrated on putting a seal upon the memory. It was difficult, like trying to put a thread through the small head in a needle, or having to place a hundred images that were almost exactly the same in the correct order. "I'll fix everything, you don't have to worry anymore."

She gave a small sigh, and went limp within his arms. She would not wake up for awhile. Resignedly he picked her up, looking down at her blank face.

-- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- -- --

Hikyrrou looked around nervously. She didn't recognize anyone there except Banira. Well, she recognized Josephine's voice, but she had never seen the woman's face. Then there was the intimidating blind man, and the other male. She really didn't like the other male. He constantly looked like he was grimacing, or scowling at something. She couldn't pick out which. He was shorter than the other man, but he had an air of… bitterness and apathy about him.

Banira was looking at the taller, blind guy though, and Hikyrrou wondered why. There was no way he could see her gaze, if he couldn't seen.

"Cegoved?" Banira said almost mockingly. "Whats with that name? Really now, why would anyone wish to call themselves that?"

"Whats wrong with his name?" Hikyrrou asked curiously.

Banira glanced over at her, "It quite literally means 'blind wood'," she shrugged. "Yeah, blind is certainly right, and stiff to."Cegoved winced, but said nothing. So what, his name translated literally to what he was. Big deal.

Hikyrrou burst out into laughter, despite herself. "your name means 'blind wood' ?" She shook her head, trying to hold back the giggles that were bubbling to the surface. "I'm sorry," she stammered, "It's not funny but… but _it is_…"

Cegoved sighed, "let it out then, I don't mind." His eyes were closed now, since they were useless. "How long to they get here? Seems we're always waiting on one or the other…"

Banira laughed, "yes, Air and Fire never show up on time do they? Even before fire was Hao."

"Before it was Sutara, too," Joesiphine interjected with a chuckle. "Seems it is an ongoing trend."

Hikyrrou looked between them, completely lost. She wondered where her teacher was though, and why Ammirra had such a… she could not quite lable it… "Banira-sama, what happened to Ammirra-sensei… she didn't seem herself at all."

All the others froze, and turned their eyes on her, and she cowered under their looks. Banira sighed, "Blind," she said, gesturing to Cegoved.

"I wish you wouldn't refer to me in that way," he murmured. Then he turned his attention on Hikyrrou. "Ammirra had an encounter with another water elementalist. He… had a strong desire for her and it almost ended very badly."

The other male looked at him, this was the first he had heard of this. "What!?" he asked shocked, before Hikyrrou could grasp what Cegoved had meant. He looked at Banira, "Were is she now?"

Banira sighed, "She's with Hao. He can help her now better than anyone here."

"What!" came too outraged voiced, Hikyrrou and the male.

"Theres no way that insensitive jerk could—" Hikyrrou shouted

"He has no right to go anywhere near—" the male shouted.

"Thank you for the votes of confidence," Hao cut in, appearing in his flames with Ammirra still unconscious in his arms. "Pardon me for not being worthy enough to help your precious Air shaman," his voice was bitter, and mocking, "but if I recall correctly, neither of you are able to block the memories of others."

The other male glared at him, "Put her down, I can take care of her."

"No, you can't," Hao said simply, his eyes flashing angrily. "She is not yours to take care off. You lost in a fight to her _twice_, there fore you can not claim her."

"You haven't even tried," the other growled back, advancing on him.

"How would you know? I challenged her recently," his voice was semi-calm. "And in any case… whether you like it or not, She will be mine. And _I_ will do _what ever it takes_ to ensure _my _future Shaman Queen is whole. Mind, Heart, and Body."

Ammirra stirred, and her eyes slowly opened. "Hao?" she asked quietly.

"Right here," he murmured, grinning at the other male. "It's alright, I'm right here."

She smiled, laying her head on his shoulder, an arm finding it's way around his neck. "Good."

* * *

And I have a finish!

Sooo, till the next chapter pple

Oh yeah, I changed the title of this chapter like twenty times before I gave it the one I had now. Oh indecision.

**JA NE!**


	21. Chapter 21

Disclaimer: Of course I don't own shaman king. I also don't own Eli, his brother, or his parents. They belong to Goddess Bellardi!

And I'm back with another chapter, sorry for the wait… graduation and all that fun stuff. Now I have to decide what I'm doing with my life (do I really have to?)

Anyway, enough of meself, and on to the chappie!

* * *

**Chapter 21**

_**Rivalry and Dreams**_

Still grinning at the enraged male, Hao gently moved Ammirra's arm from around his neck. "Am-chan," he breathed in her ear, "While I certainly like your new found affection for me, now really isn't the time." He placed her back on her feet, but kept one arm possessively about her waist. "Kindly hold yourself back while we attend to our business. You do remember why we've all been asked to gather, don't you?"

"We have?" she looked around a little confused, before finally remembering. "Oh yeah… we have…" She laughed a little nervously. Then she looked at the blond man who was still fuming. " Vex what's got you all tied in a knot?" she asked densely.

Hikyrrou had been watching the spectacle slightly dumbfounded. She was pretty shocked her teacher was being so… friendly with _Hao_. She thought Ammirra had hated him, and now…

"Whatever is bugging him is probably irrelevant," Hao was saying to Ammirra, and Hikyrrou turned her attention back to what was going on. "Shouldn't we get on with our businnes? If you keep getting distracted it'll be noon before we get anything done."

Ammirra turned to look at Hao with her grey eyes, and then nodded. "Sorry," she apologized sheepishly. She then turned back to the rest of the assembled, and her face fell back into it's serious mask. "Do to the current organization of our opposites it has been decided we must select a leader. We simply cannot compete against them as we remain so divided and undecided on key issues. We are gathered here now to begin the process of choosing that leader. So, if anyone thinks they know who that person should be, now is the time to nominate them. Of course, others can contest the nomination, and you don't have to accept… which could lead us to having no one willing to take the role an- …"

"Ammirra, your going of track again," Banira said calmly.

Vex turned to Banira, "Why don't you just tell us who is supposed to be our leader, you can see can't you?" He was still positively furious, his hands clenched at his side. He kept glaring daggers at Hao over his shoulder.

"Which is why I'm stepping completely out of the decision making," Banira said simply. "And I'd like to state I will not accept the role." She gave a decisive nod, and fell silent.

Ammirra looked at her teacher, and then at Vex… still wondering why the male shaman was so… well…vexed. Then she sighed, looking around there gathering place. They were currently located on a forested rise looking over a broad, barren plain. She saw a fallen tree that didn't look to rotten, and walked over to it, choosing to perch on it. "Well… now you all know who's here, so why don't we start with he nominations… anyone?" There was silence. Hikyrrou did not have the guts to speak, and Vex was still to angry. Josephine seemed not to care, and Cegoved just… stood there as responsive as a log. Hao was watching Vex carefully, expecting the male may do something rash, like attack him.

"None?" Ammirra asked bewildered, looking at everyone slowly. Then she sighed, "Well then," she sighed, hopping down from the log. "Hikyrrou, bring out your staff please," she asked, moving to stand by her apprentice.

Hikyrrou nearly jumped, and then nodded, hastily doing as she was asked. She wordlessly held the staff out to her teacher.

"Thank you," Ammirra said with a rare grin. "Okay everybody, get in a circle," she said. They looked at her curiously, wondering what she had in mind. "Chop chop, you do want to be able to go back to your camps for breakfast don't you?" There was very little night left now. The water shaman waited for them to comply, and then walked over to Banira. "Since your not going to give a nomination, sensei," she held the staff out to her.

Banira rolled her eyes, but took the staff, "Get in the circle," she said with a sigh. Once Ammirra had stepped into the circle she threw the staff up. It shot up into the air, spinning around haphazardly, and the fell, clattering. The staff pointed just to Ammirra's left, but the other end pointed right at Vex.

"Alight, vex, who would you consider best suited?" Ammirra asked, waiting on the blond man.

"Cegoved," Vex said after awhile, looking over at the blind shaman. He was the most level headed, other than Banira. He didn't fancy being ordered around by a girl either.

Ammirra turned to Cegoved, "What do you think of that?" she asked the blind shaman.

"I do not want it," Cegoved said simply. His eyes remained closed, as they were useless anyway.

Ammirra nodded, and looked at Vex, "Your turn to throw it," she said simply. "After you leave the circle." Vex rolled his eyes, and picked up the staff. Then he left the circle, before tossing the staff as Banira had done. Again it went up, and came down. This time it pointed towards Josephine.

"Hmm," The black haired woman tilted her head, looking at those in the circle, as well as Vex. The best one would be Banira, but she had already said she would not take the role. Cegoved was next best, but he had refused. Vex was too hot headed, and Hikyrrou was too new. That left herself, Hao, and Ammirra. She didn't want the role, nor would she nominate herself in any case. 

Ammirra was not fit for the role at the moment; it was easy to see that. "Hao," she said with a shrug.

Three pairs of eyes turned to her, a little stunned. Hikyrrou was just that, stunned. Vex was furious. The other pair of eyes was Hao himself. Josephine had never liked him as a person, and he found it surprising she would chose him. Ammirra didn't see it as strange at all, and turned to look at Hao. "What do you say to that?"

"I have no objections," he said slowly, regaining his composure, and looking at Ammirra.

Ammirra turned back to Josephine, "Alright, your turn to throw." She saw Vex step forward, and looked at him calmly, "It's just a nomination, save any complaints for later."

Josephine, laughed, looking at Vex as well. She retrieved the staff, and stepped out of the circle, tossing the staff into the air. This time it pointed to Cegoved, but he could not see it. "It's your turn, Cegoved," she said kindly.

"Thank you," Cegoved replied. He cocked his head to the side, thinking, "Josephine," he said slowly, but he already knew she did not want it.

"No thanks," Josephine said with a smile, and went back into the circle. She picked the staff up and walked over to the blind shaman, handing it to him, before she put a hand on his arm, helping him leave the circle. He thanked her again, before tossing the staff.

Now it pointed to Hikyrrou. The young shaman tensed, looking between Hao and Ammirra. They were the only options right now. She couldn't consider herself, or the blond and hot tempered male named Vex. She looked at her feet, thinking. The obvious choice was her teacher but… Ammirra didn't seem her self. She looked up again, to once more look between Hao and Ammirra. Then she kicked at the dirt, "Hao," she half mumbled.

Again Hao was surprised, but this time so was everyone else. The most surprised was Ammirra. She had never expected her student to look past her dislike of Hao, and see he was at the moment the logical choice over herself. "You've grown, Hikyrrou," she said softly.

Hikyrrou nodded, her face a little grim, before taking the staff and tossing it. It pointed to Ammirra. "I think everyone already knows my answer," she said softly. "I'd never have the audacity to nominate myself, nor do I want the roll," She picked up her students staff and handed it back to Hikyrrou. "It seems to me we only have one candidate for the position." She looked at everyone, but her eyes lingered on Hao for a moment longer. "Are there any objections?"

Vex looked around, surely Banira or Cegoved would object. But they said nothing. He growled angrily and stepped forward, "I object!"

Ammirra turned slowly to look at him. "Alright, what reasons have you that support your opinion of his inability to lead us."

Vex looked at her only briefly, before looking at Hao, fists clench. "He deserves no such honor. He turned his back on his teacher, and then expects to be able to make her his." He was approaching the fire shaman. "He does not follow the rules set carefully by past elementals for the good of all shaman!"

Hao watched him approach, his face expressionless. "And what do you purpose," he asked calmly, "Who else should lead us, no one else wants to… unless of course, you do."

"I would be better than you!" he responded to Hao's taunt dumbly.

"You were not nominated," the fire shaman stated, his expression now one of boredom. "Why would anyone here follow you?"

Vex growled, drawing a short sword he had had sheathed at his hip. "I'll fight you for the right! Then no one can complain!" He then glanced over at Ammirra, before looking back at Hao, "And if you lose you have to give up on her too!"

Ammirra blinked, and it took a moment for her to realize Vex was talking about her. She stepped towards Vex to tell him he was out of line, but Hao slipped in front of her, holding an arm out to stop her. He looked down at her, "Don't interfere Ammirra," he said softly, before turning his attention back on Vex.

"Very well, I'll accept your challenge," he said slowly. Then his onyx eyes were clouded with anger, "And the same conditions will apply to you. Should you lose, you will stop your clumsy pursuit, and you will accept my authority."

Ammirra looked up at Hao, and then over at the dangerously determined looking Vex. She had a feeling this fight was less about leadership… and more about her. "You two are being totally ridiculous and unrea-"

Hao looked back at her, "Ammirra, don't get involved," he told her coolly. His eyes showed annoyance, anger, and a sort of possession she had not been expecting. She fell silent, taking a half step back. Hao slowly looked away from her face and once more at Vex. "Well?"

The blond young man nearly snarled at Hao. "Agreed," he hissed his sword firmly in hand. He glared at Hao, clearly waiting for the others to clear space.

"Your Crazy!" Ammirra piped up immediately. "You can't fight up here, take it down there," she pointed to the plains below. She then huffed annoyed, clearly disappointed in both male shaman, and started to walk off, but turned to look at her apprentice. _'Tell me when they have finished this silly squabble,'_ she instructed, before disappearing into the trees.

Hikyrrou blinked, _'Yes sensei,'_ her mental voice sounded rather confused at what was going on. She watched as both Hao and Vex looked after Ammirra before making their way down to the plain. "Why did she tell them to go there?" Hikyrrou asked no one in particular.

"She does not want the forest to be burned," Cegoved responded, tilting his head slightly in the direction of Hikyrrou's voice.

Hikyrrou looked at Cegoved, and then at Banira and Josephine, before looking down at the combatants. "I'm getting the impression Vex doesn't stand much of a chance."

Josephine nodded, "You'd be correct. Vex has always been to rash, and Hao is more powerful to begin with." Josephine looked up towards the two shaman as they eyed each other, waiting. "Just watch, you'll understand shortly."

Hikyrrou blinked, before turning her full attention on Hao and Vex. She noted that Hao had no weapon, and just stood watching his opponent. Vex was regarding Hao warily, but seemed to be waiting for something. Finally his hissed in annoyance, "You weapon."

Hao sighed, "I do not need it," he half mumbled, but obliged. Holding out his hand it was but a moment before the spirit of fire turned into a sword. Then Hao resumed his casual regard of Vex, just waiting once more.

Vex waited to, but there was more tension emanating form his body. He shifted his stance, feet wider apart, clearly growing impatient. Still Hao did not move. The hot-headed shaman could take no more, and sprung from his crouch, lunging at Hao. It was clear his intention was to drive his blade through the other shaman's chest.

The move was too rash, as well as too predictable. Hao sidestepped the lunge, and then brought his hand down on Vex's wrist, knocking his weapon out of hand. He spun around, and kicked at his opponents side, sending him flying back into the rocks. Hao advanced casually and was about to bring his sword tip to the other shaman's neck when he heard a whirring sound. He immediately jumped to the side, as Vex's sword skimmed past his head. "That was dangerous," he said with a mocking frown.

Vex hissed again, retrieving his sword. He did not try to lunge at Hao again, but started to slowly edge around the fire shaman. However he again lost his patience and rushed at Hao. He had a little more sense this time, feigning an attack to the right, and then ducking and rolling to the left, before slashing upwards with his sword.

-- -- -- -- --

Ammirra looked back in the direction of the others, and then leaned back against a tree. She slipped down so she was sitting leaning against the trunk. She was so tired, and figured it would be safe to take a nap here. What could happen? She was not all that far away from the others. Yes, a nap sounded perfect.

She made herself as comfortable as she could before closing her eyes. She wondered absently how long it had been since she had had a decent nights sleep. She decided it had been much to long. Her mind felt rather fuzzy, and she soon thought of nothing. Moments later she was fast asleep.

_Flashback…_

"_Ammirra-sama," an old males voice interrupted her thoughts. "My son has returned and he says he brings you tidings from a family, tidings that may interest you. He looks concerned."_

_The girl pulled herself up off the floor and stood slowly. She couldn't be more than four. "Really?" she asked in a child's voice, but without a child's innocence. She brushed aqua hair from her face and looked up at the man with grey eyes. Then she looked passed him to see a younger man with a terribly scarred face. "tell me these tidings," Ammirra told him._

_He did so, and her face grew grim. "I think it would be best if I checked on this family," she murmured. "Ask your sister if I can borrow some of her clothes."_

_The younger man looked at her a little confused, "What for, Ammirra-sama?"_

"_Why, I can't appear at their door as a four year old, now can I?" As she spoke her stag spirit appeared at her side. "And these clothes certainly won't fit a young woman."_

…_Flashback end._

Ammirra stirred in her sleep, and mumbled something under her breath. She was frowning, her brow creased. "There wasn't anything I could do," she mumbled. She was no longer leaning against the tree, but lay on her side at it's base, hair tangled with twigs and grass from shifting around in her slumber.

_Flashback…_

_The door opened in front of her, a man standing before her in the door way. "Hello. I was told you were concerned about your son. From what I've been told I believe this could be a serious matter," she told him._

_The man looked at the aqua haired young woman, "You're the shaman we have heard about? Amm…"_

_He stopped, as they both heard yelling from within the house. The young woman pushed past the man without hesitation and made her way through the home towards the room the shout had emanated from. She heard glass shatter as she moved._

_And then she saw two identical boys, only one she knew was not himself. He was reaching out for the other. She did not even need to think, sending her wind at the reaching boy and knocking him back. Her staff was in her hand moments after._

_The two boys looked at her, the reaching one cursing. The other asked her, "Who.. Who are you?" And she wisely chose not to give an answer, the first boy had lunged and she had to knock him back again._

"_Take her and go somewhere safe," she commanded the boy, gesturing to the unconscious body of a woman, probably the mother of the twins._

…_Flashback End._

"No!" Ammirra gasped, sitting up suddenly. She covered her eyes, gasping for breath. She had been breathing heavily and sweating. She was shaking to, and once more leaned back into the tree. How long had it been since that incident? Eight years? Yes, her current body had been four at the time, though she had disguised this fact from the family.

She shivered at the memory, but now it had been brought back, she just could not forget what had happened once she left that room.

_Flashback…_

_Ammirra looked down at the body of the boy. Her hands were shaking as she gently picked up his limp form. She just looked at his face for a time, before she turned back to the door. A gently wind opened it, and she slipped out into the hall, her face in shadow. The mother had now woken, and she looked at her. She thought her voice would break when she spoke, "I'm sorry… I could not save your son."_

_Of course, the woman cried, she had just lost one of her children. Ammirra felt a need to comfort her, but her husband arrived, and she had to impart the news once more. She handed the body of the boy over to the father. It was then that she noticed the boys twin was standing in the corner of the hall by the bedroom._

_She half turned in his direction, ready to offer comfort, when he opened his own mouth. "You killed him!" he was screaming at her, "If it wasn't for you, Eli would still be alive!"_

…_Flashback end._

Ammirra winced at the memory, and closed her eyes against tears that had started to gather. The boys words echoed again and again in her mind, and it took her some time to finally silence them. "There was nothing else I could have done," she murmured to herself.

"sensei," came the familiar voice of her apprentice. "their fighting is done," She said, now emerging from behind a group of trees.

Ammirra stood, and brushed herself off. "Oh, well that's good. So tell me, who won?"

* * *

And I'm done! Sorry for the little wait. and yeah, i accidently posted the half done version of the chapter, but I noticed it quick! so here's the full chapter!


	22. Chapter 22

**Disclaimer: **I certainly do not own shaman king alright.

Hey, Here's chapter 22 for you. It's a little bit short, but not my shortest. Hope you enjoy.

* * *

**Chapter 22**

_**Stricken**_

"Sensei?" Hikyrrou looked over at her teacher worriedly. "Are you sure you are all right?" The aqua haired shaman appeared to be having some difficulty breathing as they walked through the red sands. This was the second time the blue headed girl had noticed this. She had asked her teacher how she was feeling earlier, but Ammirra had promptly said she was fine.

"Yes," The shaman replied simply. She had to whip more sweat from her forehead. "I am sure I am alright Hikyrrou. I know myself well enough, so I suggest you stop worrying so much about me and start worrying more about yourself." She nearly snapped at the girl, and pushed ahead. When her face could no longer be seen by her apprentice she couldn't help but grimace. She had a sharp pain in her chest…. She knew she did not have much time left.

"We best hurry on to patch village. We have wasted enough time," the air shaman stated after a few minutes of silence. She said this because she knew she would have a higher chance of survival there.

"It hasn't even been a week yet," Hikyrrou felt obliged to point out. A frown had crossed her face as she watched the other girl up ahead of her. Something had to be wrong.

"I am tired of waiting for them," Ammirra said simply without looking back at her apprentice.

Sutara was looking at her sister a little worriedly as well. Like Hikyrrou, she was sure something was wrong. However, unlike the younger girl, she had an idea of what it may be. She looked over to Banira, searching for an answer. However the brown haired girl was just looking ahead, her face blank. She bit her lip, and refrained from asking Banira about her sister.

_I can do this_, Ammirra was thinking, _I can make it to the village on my own two feet_. She continued to push on, gritting her teeth as she did so. When they reached the end of the desert she felt an intense feeling of relief. "We are almost there," she called back for her students benefit. With the promise of rest, and the end of the journey, Ammirra continued forward, turning herself towards the blue cave.

_Hold out body, just a little longer_, she found herself pleading with her weakening self. Her legs were starting to shake, and she had to take deep breaths and slower steps to stop the trembling. _I can do this_, she continued to tell herself, but by then she knew that was not true. When she knew she could not push her body much farther she called back to her student. "Hikyrrou, come here."

Hikyrrou blinked, but came to her teachers' side. She watched Ammirra's mouth move, only she hearing the sound. "Sensei," she said softly, moving closer to her and grabbing on of her arms to place over her own shoulders. "You shouldn't push yourself like this."

Ammirra actually smiled at that, "I know," she murmured, leaning against her student. "Just help me to the village."

Hikyrrou nodded, shaking off the apprehensive Sutara and helping her teacher through the cave. By the time they reached the exit, Ammirra had passed out.

"Give her to me," Sutara snapped, and took her sister from. She picked her up and they continued into the village.

Banira sighed, "I will meet up with you again later." With that she turned and left the three other girls behind. She had someone she needed to converse with, or Ammirra would run out of time.

**-- -- -- -- --  
**

Hao held back a yawn, leaning back against a tree. _I really hate waiting_, he thought absently, looking around the clearing with half lidded eyes. Not that he was expecting to find anything of interest… he was just bored. Suppressing another yawn the fire shaman brought one hand up to his stiff shoulder. He grimaced, and his face was all at once annoyed. _Damn Vex_, his mind grumbled. _He needs to learn to control his bloody temper_. He then rolled his eyes, before closing them completely. Maybe he could take a nap. Yes, that would be rather nice.

"Hao," a female voice interrupted his slowing thoughts, and he opened one eye to find the one who dared bother him while he was contemplating a nap. To his surprise the person's face was barely half a foot from his own. His other eye opened, and he blinked… a little dumbly.

"Uh… Banira?" he asked… and then felt a little idiotic… of course it was Banira. Who else could get so close without him noticing. "Why are you here?" he asked her, trying to regain some of his composure.

Banira straightened herself so she was looking down at him. "Why wouldn't I be here?" was her reply.

_Damn_, Hao inwardly mumbled, _I hate it when I'm answered with a question_. "Because you're normally with your student." Yes, that sounded like a good enough reply.

"I'm normally wherever I please to be," The brown haired shaman stated with a casual shrug.

This made Hao blink in confusion. The girl in front of him was not the Banira he was somewhat used to. He was sure that Ammirra's teacher was normally quieter… and much more serious. "Something happened," he stated.

Banira was momentarily surprised, though this did not show on her face. "Ammirra." Was all she said, believing that was all he needed to hear.

He stiffened, and his eyes narrowed. It took him a moment to fully comprehend, but when he did he was quickly on his feet. "Where?" Banira just turned, and began to leave the clearing. Hao set his jaw firmly, and followed after.

**-- -- -- -- -- **

The blond haired shaman cursed, and then winced. He sat leaning against the wall, on arm over his middle. He was mumbling about something.

"Oh get over it," snapped a female voice. A woman with black hair entered the room. "You knew he was stronger than you. It's your own fault for fighting him anyway."

"Shut up," he snapped at her, and then groaned. The left side of his body smarted painfully.

"You shouldn't talk to a lady like that," the other male in the room said. His eyes were closed, his head turned slightly in the blonde's direction. "And she was only pointing out the truth, Vex."

Vex mumbled about unfairness, and turned his head away from both of them.

"Sensei," a blue haired girl came up behind the black haired woman. "Hikyrrou has arrived with Ammirra-sama… but there seems to be something wrong."

"Something wrong?" Josephine turned to look at Kassianna. "And what would that be?"

"Ammirra-sama appears to be very ill," the apprentice shaman explained. "I only caught a glimpse of her, being carried by her sister. She was unconscious."

The Earth shaman looked at the two leaders of the main divisions in her element. Vex was trying to get up, and failing miserably. Cegoved was frowning, but did not move from his position near the injured male. "I will go see her," She told them. "Stop pushing yourself Vex or Cegoved will have to knock you out."

"He wouldn't," Vex barked, leaning back heavily against the wall. He had managed to get into a half standing position.

Josephine sighed, knowing the stubborn young man would not listen. Shaking her head she turned and left the room, her student leading her towards Ammirra's.

"Go back to your room, Josephine," came the voice of a younger male. She turned to see who it was, though she already knew when she heard the voice. It was Hao, standing near Banira. She turned to him fully, raising one eyebrow. "There is nothing you can do for Ammirra right now. It would be bad to crowd her. Return to you room for now," the Fire shaman told her.

Josephine inclined her head to him. "Very well." She turned, causing her long black hair to whip behind her. A frown on her face, she went back to the room. She knew Vex must be unconscious when she passed the room Cegoved and Vex shared. There was no sound coming from within. Sighing, she continued to the next room.

She slipped inside, Kassiana right behind her. "I'm going to take a nap," she announced for the blue haired girls benefit. Without saying anything else she lay down her side, and closed her eyes. Her back was to her student, so she only heard Kassiana leave the room. Once she was sure her student had left she sat up, opening her eyes. Her brow was furrowed.

Sighing she leaned back against the wall, mulling it over in her mind. She started with what she knew. Hao would not let her go see Ammirra. He had come with Banira-sama… and Ammirra was absent five hundred years ago. Yes, she was sure this illness now had to have something to do with that. Even knowing all this, she found no answers came to her.

_Just what is wrong with Ammirra?_ _Why did Hao turn me back? What sort of illness could she have that I can't cure and he can?_ She thought before her mind began to cloud over. She felt her limbs become leaden, as her body succumbed to the need of sleep.

**-- -- -- -- -- **

There was a bright light, accompanied by intense burning. She opened her mouth to scream, but heard no sound. She tried to bring her hands up to her eyes were the searing pain was at it's worst. She found she could not do so. No matter how hard she tried to move nothing happened… it was like there was _nothing_ to move. She tried to close her eyes, only to realize they _were_ closed. Attempting to let out another scream she again heard nothing. No sound, but her throat felt raw. She continued to scream, and try to move the body she could not feel. She tried opening her eyes, only to find she could not do that either.

Soon she was aware of something. Screams. She could hear them but they seemed so distant. Who was screaming like that? It sounded soul wrenching… who had the audacity to scream like that when _she_ was the one suffering this strange hell? And behind the screams she could make out something else. Laughing?

**-- -- -- -- -- **

"Well?" was the impatient question. "Has she succumbed?"

"Yes," a bowing figure responded. They drew themselves straight slowly, looking at the one in front of them. "Shall I strike now?"

"No, _She_ is still there. For that girl, _She_ could through aside her normal policy," The second figure said. They were sitting on a fallen tree, legs crossed daintily. Their face was shadowed by a cloak and cowl pulled up. Their figure was undoubtedly female however.

"Can You not see if _She_ will?" The other one asked. The voice was male, and unlike his companion he did not have his face covered. He appeared eighteen, with black hair. Emor.

"I told you," the female voice was irritated now, "Times flow has been altered enough that we can not rely on what the future appears to hold. The course has been diverted to the point that it may unpredictably sway drastically."

"I am sorry, my lady. Please forgive my forgetfulness," the air double responded, bowing his head. He appeared to be nervous.

The woman sighed, and gracefully stood. "You would to better to think before you act." Her tone was deceivingly sweet, as she tilted her head towards him slightly.

"Y-yes, My lady. It will not happen again," he sputtered nervously, giving a stiff, shallow bow.

"Very well," she crooned. "You are dismissed for now."

"Thank you, My lady," Was his hasty response, before he turned and quickly left through the trees.

The woman looked after him, and then reached up with one pale hand to pull her cowl down. She shook her head, causing aqua hair to fall out of the fabric. She brushed back the single red section of bang behind her ear. An evidently pleased grin made it's way to her invitingly red lips. Her green eyes flashed in amusement.

Her grin broadened, and she began to laugh softly, "Your time is running out, Ammirra."

* * *

Well there you have it, chapter 22. From now on you'll be seeing more of the doubles, and things should get more exciting.

**Ja Ne!**


	23. Chapter 23

**Disclaimer:** I do not own Shaman king… can I go cry in the corner now?

Alright, so here is the 23 chapter. That leaves thirteen chapters to go. If all goes as planned I'll have up to chapter thirty to Hikyrrou before x-mas, maybe even more. I'm hopping to get this all posted before the end of February if I can.

Anyway, on to the chapter! Enjoy!

* * *

**Chapter 23**

_**Never**_

"_Your time is running out, Ammirra."_

Her eyes snapped open, a scream tearing through the raw flesh of her throat. Freezing hands were holding down her wrists and two more held either side of her head. She tried to wrench herself free as an intense wave of pain overtook her. She sputtered, a coppery liquid filling her mouth and effectively cutting off her screams.

"Turn her on her side!" a voice called distantly. The meaning of the words failed to register in her mind, but she felt the cold hands shifting. They forced her to turn over.

"_Never doubt my word, girl."_

"Ammirra," she felt a hand grab hers gently, stroking the back with their thumb. This voice continued, but the words did not register in her mind.

"_You can't take this. You'll never last."_

She desperately glanced around the room for the one speaking those words. She saw nothing but blurry outlines, some that appeared to be people, but none of them seemed to fit the strange voice.

"_Give up."_

Her eyes closed again, her breathing slowing down, despite the pain wracking her frame.

"_Just let it end."_

_Let it end…. _The words were strangely appealing to her. Her mind began to slip into the darkness.

"_That's it, let it end."_

_Yes…_ She let herself continue to sink into the black… the so inviting abyss. The pain was fading from memory as her mind slipped farther away from her body.

"Ammirra!"

_No…_ she cried out.

"Ammirra!" the voice called out louder, cutting deeper into the gathering darkness.

_No!_ Her mind cried again. _Leave me alone!_

"Ammirra, listen to me!" The words ripped through the dark, trying to ensnare her and pull her back.

_Go way!_ She wished she could strike out at the one keeping her from the peace of this nothingness.

"Ammirra," the voice cried out, sounding forlorn. "Don't give up on me!"

Who was this? Why wouldn't they let her give up? She couldn't understand. Couldn't they understand this would be better for her? She wouldn't have to suffer.

"Ammirra, no," they cried out. The voice was closer this time. She could almost place it…. Who was it? "Don't leave me… don't give up!" A face...? She could put a face to the voice. It was blurry… but she thought she knew it. Dark eyes and long brown hair. "Don't let go." Though the voice had dropped in volume, she heard it clearly. "Please," they looked so lost. Were those tears? And… that was her hand they were holding. It was so pale! "Ammirra, stay with me… I love you." She noticed the voice was hoarse. Wait… they loved her?

_Hao?_

-- -- -- -- --

She let out a hiss, snapping a branch from the nearest tree. "Meddling fool!" She had been so close! Just a little longer and Ammirra would have succumbed to the darkness. Then her plan would be complete. Now… now she had to re think.

Banira. That ridiculous woman! She always found a way to be an unbelievable nuisance. Wait… that was it. Her lips curled up in a wicked grin once more. For once, she would turn Banira's ploy back on her. "The girl." Yes, it was perfect. "Kasser!" She called out, turning quickly. Her hair whipped about, but fell neatly to frame her pale face once more.

Soon the young man stepped out. His once striking blue hair had darkened now and he was almost unrecognizable. "Yes, Netta-sama?"

"That girl. She has something that belongs to your mother. She has no right to it." The woman's voice was gentle, filled with false concern. "You know of what I speak."

"Yes," he responded simply.

"Are you going to stand for that?"

"No." And with that Kasser turned, leaving the twisted time shaman. She looked after him, a broad grin once more gracing her lips.

-- -- -- -- --

Hikyrrou sat in her room. She would have been sharing it with Ammirra, but she was currently in Banira's room. The girl was sitting against the wall, with her knees pulled up under her chin. Her eyes were focused on a non existent point somewhere in front of her. She barely even noticed with a red haired shaman entered the room. The shaman made her way towards Hikyrrou. They stopped several feet away, and sank to the ground with their own back against the wall.

"Sensei?" Hikyrrou asked after several minutes of silence between them.

"She's doing a little better," answered the other shaman, turning her head to look at the younger one. "Banira-sama says she's no longer in immediate danger."

"That's good," Hikyrrou breathed in relief and silence fell over them again. Hikyrrou didn't know what she could say to the red-haired girl.

"Hao is working on the cure," came the cool tone of Banira. She stood at the door, looking blankly at the two shamans within the room. "Sutara, you should assist him. You know how Ammirra records things." The red haired girl nodded, standing and leaving the room. Banira's eyes then turned to the youngest of the elementalists. "Hikyrrou, you can help by retrieving these," she held out a small scrap of paper. "Hao believes they will be useful."

Hikyrrou let her eyes move to the time shaman, and then the paper in her outstretched hand. She pushed herself to her feet and closed the gap between her and her mentor's teacher. Without a word she took the paper, and left the room.

-- -- -- -- -- _ -- -- -- -- --

"I should have asked someone," the blue haired girl mumbled to herself. She had found three out of the four plants listed on the paper. Those had been easy enough, she knew what they were. But this last one? She hadn't a clue. Yes, she should have asked someone. Now she had to go all the way back to the village, and then go looking again! Wonderful! Just absolutely perfect! Things couldn't get any better! "Stupid, stupid Hikyrrou," she mumbled angrily. Then she sighed, and resignedly turned to go back.

"I have to agree. You're not very bright"

Hikyrrou stopped mid step. She hadn't heard anyone approaching… and she recognized that voice. "Kasser," she breathed, her foot coming down. She did not turn in the direction of his voice.

"The one and only," He drawled, stepping out from behind a tree. He stood to her right now, just within her peripheral vision. "Miss me, oh my fake little sister?

"Fake…. Sister?" Hikyrrou asked, her voice shaking. She slowly turned to face. What did he mean by that?

He laughed, and began to advance on her. He had no weapon in hand. "You don't know? Why don't you ask that teacher of hers… or that false lady of time? What's her name, Benita?"

"Banira," Hikyrrou corrected him. What the hell was he talking about? "Kasser, what the hell are you talking about? What do you want?

"I came to take something back that doesn't belong to you," The male said simply, shrugging. His darkened hair was ruffled by the gentle wind running in between the trees.

Hikyrrou looked at his hair, and then back at his face. What was wrong with him? "What do you mean?"

"My mothers ring."

'_My mothers ring?'_ she repeated his words in her head. What did that mean… was he talking about the ring their mother had given to her? The one she had had since she was born? But he had said 'my' not 'our'.

"Give me the ring." He held out his hand, his eyes narrowing to glare at her. "You have no right to keep it. It belongs in the family only."

"What are you talking about?" she demanded, one hand instinctively going to cover the ring on her other hand. She stepped back from him. "Our mother gave me this ring when I was born!"

"'Our' mother," he laughed. "Don't be a fool! She was never your mother!'

Hikyrrou shook her head, "What's wrong with you?" She took another step back. "Why are you acting like this?" He continued to advance and she continued to step away. Soon though, all too soon, her back was pressed against a tree. "Brother, why?" she cried out. "What has she done to you?"

"I was never your brother," Kasser responded. He reached out and grabbed her wrist, yanking it. It caused her to stumble forward, and let go of her other hand. He took the opportunity to grab that wrist. She struggled with him, trying to pry herself away, but he twisted her arm painfully behind her back. Then he pulled the ring from her finger, before he roughly pushed her away.

"Kasser!" she cried out, as she turned… but he was already gone. The girl let out a strangled sob, as she sunk to her knees and buried her face in her hands.

-- -- -- -- --

Hao listened carefully to what Sutara had to say. When she was finally finished he was silent for some time. Then he finally pulled himself up, away from the bed Ammirra lay on. "Watch her," he said softly. Then he left the room. There was a lot he needed to accomplish… but Hikyrrou had not yet returned. Had she managed, somehow, to get herself lost? No… that couldn't be it. Even if the ridiculous girl managed to do that, she would be able to find her way again quickly. She just moved to fast. So, why the delay? Something must have happened, that was the only explanation. What though?

The fire shaman frowned. Whatever it was, it could not be good. Setting his jaw firmly, he proceeded out of the building and then out of the village. He extended his mind, looking for a trace of the blue haired girls thoughts. He didn't think he would find anything. She managed to keep her mind very well guarded from others. Sometimes it was infuriating. With someone so fast, it would be nice to know what they were thinking.

'_Kasser'_

He stopped dead, one eye brow rising. He had heard that clearly… a forlorn cry. The type that if he was hearing it aloud he would expect heavy sobs to accompany. And he knew the voice. It was the very girl he was looking for. Well… that was a little unexpected. But… at least now he had more of an idea of what had happened. It was something to do with her brother… well… he thought that was the name of her brother. If he remembered correctly, her brother was also her double. Had she killed him? No…. that didn't fit. Hikyrrou was practically incapable of killing.

He didn't have time to think of anything else, as he soon came upon her. She was on her knees at the base of a tree, her face buried in her hands. He could hear sobbing now, and was a little surprised he had not noticed it before. He came to a stop, watching her for a moment. It was quickly made clear that she had not noticed him. So it was bad.

Sighing he stepped forward slowly, "Girl." She stiffened at his voice, and he berated himself. He needed to speak gently to her… even if he had to force himself to. Now was not the time to be his normal self towards her. "Hikyrrou," he let his voice dropped into a tone he hoped was more soothing. "What happened?"

"None of your business!" Hikyrrou snapped, getting to her feet. She glared at him, tears staining her cheeks. "Leave me alone, you jerk!" Of course, her anger was unearned by the fire shaman.

Hao resisted the urge to sigh, closing the distance between them to place one hand on her shoulder. "Hikyrrou, It was your brother, wasn't it?" He kept his voice low, as gentle as he could.

She tried to continue glaring at him, but her eyes were too tear clouded. She pushed his hand away, and backed into the tree, closing her eyes tightly. "It's none of your business…" she mumbled

Still frowning he began to turn. "Very well. But Hikyrrou, I need you to retrieve some medicinal herbs for me, if you're up to it. I don't have time to go that far… but you do." He turned fully then, and made to walk away.

Sensei! Hikyrrou remembered her teachers' condition, eyes opening. She looked at the ground in shame before raising her head to look at his retreating back. "What do you need?" she asked, her voice still uneven.

Hao stopped, but did not turn back to look at her. He was silent for awhile, his eyes trained directly ahead of him. "Listen carefully Hikyrrou. I will only say this once…"

-- -- -- -- -- _ -- -- -- -- --

"Ammirra." The gentle voice drifted through the fog of her induced slumber. It was not the same as the one that had pulled her from the dark, but it was still familiar. "Ammirra, you need to drink this."

Soon she was aware of something being pressed to her lips. There was a hand behind her head supporting her while the object at her lips was tilted. A cool liquid tickled her lips, and she parted them, hoping the liquid would sooth her burning throat. It did.

Feeling better now that the burning of her throat had gone down, she brought first one hand, and then the other to cup the object at her lips. It was a shallow bowl. She took it from the one who had been holding it, sitting on her own strength now. She was vaguely aware of a door opening, but that was all.

"Sutara, Leave us," Hao instructed from were he stood. He neared the bed, watching as Sutara hesitantly got up, and left the room. His eyes snapped to the girl sitting on the bed then. He was relieved to see her sitting by herself. "There is more," he said softly, seating himself by the bed and gently touching her arm.

She dropped the bowl, and he caught it easily. With half open eyes she looked to him. "Hao…" she said hoarsely.

"Don't speak," the male murmured, touching her cheek lightly. "Would you like some more?" She nodded, so he stood and disappeared for a minute. He returned with the bowl full of the cool liquid. Sitting on the edge of her bed he placed one arm on the small of her back while he raised the bowl to her lips. "Drink," he urged her softly. She did not argue with him, or complain that she could hold the bowl herself. When she was done she leaned into him, closing her eyes once more.

"Thank you," she whispered, a small smile gracing her lips. It was cold now, though, and she shivered. His arms slipped securely around her, holding her to his warm chest. He did not speak again, instead settling for stroking her hair. She felt she would drift back to sleep against him.

"I will cure you," the fire shaman whispered into her ear when she was all but asleep. "I will not let you die this way again. I swear it." His arms tightened around her frame marginally, and he kissed her hair. He would not lose her, not to some disease! Now that he was sure of his feelings… he did not think he could handle being without her for the next thousand years.

Ammirra was silent as she thought on his words. These words… as well as the ones he had spoken before. The words that had kept her from the abyss. "You mean this?"

"Yes. With all my being."

"You love me?"

"Without a doubt."

She took in a deep breath. "You promise?"

"I love you, I will not let you die for this. I promise."

"You will not break this promise?"

Hao looked down at her, stroking her hair once more. Then he leaned down to kiss her forehead, before he tilted her chin up and touched his lips gently to hers. "Never."

* * *

AAAAnd, that's it for this chapter! Sorry for the wait again! I swear I will post more frequently!

_**Editor's Note**__: You have my word that if she does not update more frequently I shall think up cruel and unusual ways in which to end her sad pathetic life. _

_~Hikyrrou~_

**Ja Ne!**


	24. Chapter 24

**Dislcaimer:** I obviously do not own shaman king, okay.

Sorry for the wait. Christmas, a new job, studies, and birthdays have set back my plans.... I'm hoping when my course is done I'll be able to get back on track, though I don't expect to meet my former self appointed deadline, sorry guys.

* * *

**Chapter 24**

_**Even the Wise**_

She saw a young man with dark blue hair standing in front of a girl with black hair. Both of them were holding swords, and each had serious wounds. Yet it was clear neither would back down. Again and again they lunged at each other, pulling swords back. Only to bring them down towards their enemy, or up to block the next blow. It was just too even. They would both die. How could they not?

She tried to move forward, to stop them, but she was held back by something. _Stop! _She had thought she called it aloud, but no sound came from her mouth.

The combatants continued with their deadly dance. Now they attacked without caring for their own personal safety. The dried ground beneath them was slowly being painted red with the pair's blood. Both swords came down at the same time, and then flew back out of their holders hands. They turned, lunged for their blades, and then whirled around in hopes of catching the other of guard. Both received another gash, and more red paint fell to coat the ground

_No_… she moaned inwardly.

The two of them were circling each other now. The girl had tears streaking her face, while the male was grinning broadly. However it was clear both were now focused on avoiding the attacks of the other rather than attacking themselves. Their eyes were locked together as they continued round.

_I thought…_

They kept circling, eyes always on the other, swords raised. Then the two of them grew impatient and rushed each other. Swords came back, ready to strike. A loud resounding clang followed, and the two withdrew, only to resume circling. Once more they lacked patience and rushed at each other again.

… _I had stopped this…_

The blades connected with a metallic clang. The blasted swords she now viewed as evil incarnate were pulled back yet again to be thrust forward.

… _I made a mistake?_

Darkness fell, and all that was left were the two battling figures. The swords drove themselves through the wielder of the other. Both began to fall and the figure of the male faded out. The girl was suspended mid air, and then set back on her feet.

_How?_

The girl turned, and it looked like she was gazing right at the single spectator. But that was impossible. By now this spectator had realized what she was seeing was not really in front of her. Slowly the pained look on the girl's face turned to a grin… and her hair began to turn white.

_No!_ She woke with a start, sitting up. She was sweating a little bit, her eyes opened wide. When had she fallen asleep? She did not remember. She was leaning back against the wall, in the corner. She brought one hand up to cover her eyes, sighing.

"Banira-sama?" Sutara stood at the entrance to the time shaman's room. "Hao is asking for you."

Banira turned her head to look at the red-head. "I know," she said calmly. A moment later she disappeared from where she had been.

-- -- -- -- --

Hao looked down at the sleeping Ammirra before he stood and walked over to the pot Sutara had made some hot cereal in. It had cooled down a little now so he used his fire to heat up the pot some before scooping out a bowl and returning to the bed side. He hoped Ammirra would wake soon... she hadn't managed to eat much. The fire shaman was afraid she would die of starvation before the disease could take her... or before he could cure the disease. He scowled at that thought, taking a seat back beside the bed and placing the bowl down within arm's reach.

"Hao," the voice came from behind him, and he immediately recognized it. Even so, her appearance was a little too sudden. He almost flinched, but he managed not to. "You were asking for me?"

"Yes," the male answered, as he turned to face her.

"And what do you need," she asked in her cool, rather aloof tone. Her eyes were half lidded, giving her a rather bored look. That way he would be given the impression she already knew, but since she asked he would have to explain anyway.

"Hikyrrou seems to have had an encounter with her brother. She would not impart any knowledge to me," the fire shaman explained. "It is obvious this encounter has troubled her. She is young, she needs advice. The best thing for her would be to talk to someone, but she has holed herself up in her room. So far no one has been able to get in," his expression never changed as he spoke. "If you would speak to her that would be helpful. I can't have her sulking at a time like this."

His words seemed a little cold, but Banira knew better. And then, the fact that Hikyrrou was not speaking to anyone troubled her. Though her face remained a mask of boredom, she nodded. "I'll speak with her." She turned, and once again disappeared.

Hao remained gazing at the spot she had been. Then he sighed, turning back towards Ammirra's bed. "I wish she wouldn't do that." But then… he wasn't much better, now was he?

-- -- -- -- --

Hikyrrou sat on the bed, her legs pulled up under her chin again. Her arms were wrapped around her legs, and her eyes were rather blank. "Ka…sser." Her hands tightened and her jaw clenched. "What's going on?" No matter how many times she thought about it, she just couldn't come up with a reason for her brother's actions. She could hear Sutara coming to the door again, so she got to her feet. "Go away, Sutara!" she snapped, before she began to pace.

When Sutara finally walked away, she stopped mid stride. Staring at the floor she once again tried to understand what was going on. For probably the eighth time since she got back she found herself running over the encounter in her head. "Kasser…" she mumbled again, and then shook her head. She couldn't go on like this!

The sound and light shaman moved over to the corner of the room where a small basin of wash water was with a face cloth. She cupped her hands and was about to dip them into the water so she could splash her face, when she noticed something. Her hand went to the ends of her hair. Blinking she lifted a handful up so she could look at the ends. Black? Her hair was tipped black… Black! _What in the world? My hair has always been just blue! Where'd this black come from? _Still inspecting her hair she didn't really notice someone else coming to the door.

"Hikyrrou," The voice of the time shaman drifted through the door.

"G-go away!" Hikyrrou snapped at her, her shock over the black in her hair causing her voice to rise slightly. She could hear a heavy sigh and then a moment later someone tapped her on the shoulder. She 'meep'ed and whirled around before she stumbled backwards into the wall. "Don't do that!" She barked angrily. "I told you to go away!"

Banira sighed, shaking her head. "I couldn't do that. It's very unhealthy for you to sit here and mope like that. And Sutara will need to come here to sleep eventually. What is she supposed to do when you keep the door locked like that?"

Hikyrrou blinked, and then renewed her death glare. "I don't really care." The girl crossed her arms over her chest and sat down right there in the corner of the room.

Banira's eyes fixed on the ends of Hikyrrou's hair. She noted instantly that the ends were mostly black. "Your ring, the one from your mother. You don't have it." Her eyes were narrowed as she moved to kneel in front of the girl. "Tell me what happened, Hikyrrou."

The blue haired girl looked up at Banira, and blinked. "Tell you what happened?" she repeated dumbly. "Don't you know? You know everything."

"No, I don't know what happened, and I don't know everything."

"What?" The girl stared at Banira, eyes wide. She was quite shocked, having never expected the time shaman to admit such a thing. "That doesn't…. how can you not know everything? Your time! You can look back and forth as you please! You can be anywhere you want at anytime! How can there be something you don't know?"

"There are rules that must be followed, a balance that needs to be kept. Everything is in a precarious position right now, young one. I can't afford to peek about whenever I wish." Banira reached out, placing her hands on the girl's shoulders. "There are things even I can't do." Her voice had dropped to a bare whisper. "There are times when even I make mistakes. No one is perfect. No one can make the right choice every time. No one can know everything there is to know." For a moment her eyes looked distant. _Even you, master. Even you couldn't see _that _coming…_

"But... but.... your time," Hikyrrou mumbled weakly. "I don't understand..."

"That's alright. I don't expect you to," the older shaman said kindly. "Not yet." She moved Hikyrrou over to the bed, sitting them both down. "Now.... tell me."

-- -- -- -- --

"Hao?" she called out weakly, too afraid to open her eyes. She felt two hands take one of hers, and then warm lips press against the back of it.

"I'm right here, Ammirra," came the now very soothing voice of the fire shaman she had wanted dead for so long now. Yes, she had wanted that, but not anymore. "Do you think you can eat something?" His voice was definitely filled with concern. Even her failing senses could pick up on that. She nodded weakly, not trusting herself to speak again. "Here." She felt his arm go back around her waist, lifting her up gently, his other hand adjusting the pillows to help her sit up. He lowered her back carefully.

She could faintly smell the food as she heard him pick up a bowl. She felt what she thought was a spoon held to her lips. "It's hot cereal," he told her when she did not open her mouth. "I've let it cool some for you." She still didn't open her mouth, and he pulled back the spoon, eyes taking in her face. "Please, you need to eat something Ammirra," he said softly. Again she nodded, weakly, so he brought the spoon back to her lips. "Ammirra," he scolded her softly when she didn't open her mouth. Her mouth opened and she took some of the food from the spoon.

She was relieved to find that it did not burn her mouth, and she didn't really have to chew. She couldn't really taste anything, but that was better than it tasting badly. She heard Hao sigh in relief, and then felt the spoon come to her lips again. She opened once more, and he proceeded to feed her in this manner.

Fifteen minutes later he was surprised to find the bowl was empty when he brought it back down to scoop more out with the spoon. "Do you want some more Ammirra?" he asked her slowly, though he was glad enough she had managed to finish off the bowl.

"No," the air shaman murmured. "The air in here feels stale.... can't you open a window?" She felt too stuffy in the room but there was no chance of going outside.

Hao blinked, his eyes going over to the window that had its shutters closed. He laughed softly then. "Of course I can." Giving her hand a squeeze he then got up, moving to the window and opening it. It didn't seem too cold outside or too hot. It would be safe to leave the window open for awhile. Besides, fresh air was good for her.

This done, the fire shaman turned back to Ammirra, slowly returning to her side at the bed. He assured her of his return by taking one of her hands again. "Ammirra, would you open your eyes, please," he murmured. It was important he get a good idea of how she was feeling and how far her senses were gone so he would be able to guess how much longer he had...... he didn't want to think his time would run out, but....

Ammirra was frowning, but she opened her eyes slowly anyway. She laughed a little ruefully then. "I don't see much... aside from random splotches of colour." Yet she did not feel the intense pain now. Why not?

Hao winced, looking into her eyes. It was clear she could not register where he was. He reached into his poncho with his free hand, pulling out a leather bound book. He turned Ammirra's hand palm up, and placed the book on it. "Ammirra... are you sure you got it right here? You never got a chance to try it."

The female froze, reaching her other hand over slowly, to feel the book. She was silent for awhile. "I don't know... I could have made a mistake. I was already.... suffering from it then." She grimaced, moving her other hand away from the book. "You know, from the lives I have lived, I used to think I had become wise." The bed ridden shaman shook her head at that idea. "But I realize now that can't be so. I've made so many mistakes... if I was truly wise, I would not have made them."

Amazingly Hao chuckled at this. "Oh Ammirra. Even the wise make mistakes." He leaned down to kiss her lips lightly, before pulling back. "I have something that will help keep the pain at bay. I will be back shortly." That said, he stood and moved away from the bed.

Ammirra's nearly useless eyes blinked, pondering his words. She felt him move away, and then a moment later, her world erupted in a white flash of burning agony.

-- -- -- -- --

Banira sighed, having listened to Hikyrrou's tale. "I see. So you no longer have it...." Her eyes trialed to the ends of Hikyrrou's hair. That certainly explained a lot. She didn't like this. Not in the slightest.

Hikyrrou did not fail to notice how Banira was scrutinizing her hair. She held it up, almost in an accusing fashion. "Do you know something about this, Banira?" she asked, her blue eyes narrowing. "Why is my hair turning black... from the tips up?" It didn't make much sense to her. It wouldn't be as strange if it started from the roots.... but no, this was against any natural sense!

Banira frowned before she sighed yet again. "Yes, I know why it's doing that. Black is your natural hair colour."

"Black?" No way. That made no sense.... and again, why from the tips up? "My mother had this colour hair, and my sister has blue hair and... and my mother's side of the family has had blue hair for generations!" There was just no possible way for her hair to be black, it didn't make sense. "I can't have black hair!"

Banira sighed, shaking her head. "Trust me child. Your hair was naturally black. I made it blue."

This took the young shaman aback and she was momentarily unable to think of something to say. Eventually something came to mind however. "You made my hair black? How..... Why would you do that?"

"I had my reasons," Banira murmured. "I thought it was necessary." She shook her head, eyes trialing to the window, half of her mind on another scene, which was unfolding between Hao and Ammirra. "Yes... even the wise make mistakes."

* * *

Again, really sorry. I started having problems with Word on my new comp, so I had to figure that out to.

My test was yesterday, but now I will be working more. It's not too hard a job, aside from being on my feet most of the time. I hope I'll be able to get back to writing at a decent pace soon.

**Ja Ne**


	25. Chapter 25

**Disclaimer:** Don't own shaman king.

I'm sorry! I made you guys wait again!!

To be honest... I had this chapter and the next two done... but I didn't like them so I trashed the next two chapters, and more than half of what I had for this one. Then I just couldn't figure out why it was I didn't like them, and what to do differently.....

Sorry!

It's finally done now though! Please enjoy!

I hope I won't keep you guys waiting so long again, but I'm starting college the day after tomorrow, so I might be too busy to update frequently....

* * *

**Chapter 25**

_**Intent**_

"Ammirra?" Hao touched her arm softly, sitting at her side. She mumbled something in response, causing him to sigh. "How are you feeling now?"

"Tired," she almost snapped at him... and would have snapped if her voice was strong enough. "You said it was fine to sleep, so why don't you let me do that, hmm?"

Hao almost laughed at her words. If she could be so snippy, she would be fine... but he couldn't help but worry, after her last... attack. It had been the worst one so far, and he was beginning to wonder if the medicine he'd made would work. "I will," he assured her. "After I'm sure you'll be fine while I'm absent."

The bed ridden shaman sighed, "Don't worry about me... Sensei isn't participating in the tournament so it's not like I'll be by myself." She was starting to get even more annoyed with him, but was too tired to really do anything about it. She kept her eyes shut, pulling at the covers to try and secure them around herself properly. She felt someone tucking them in around her. It was Hao of course, seeing as he was the only one in the room with her. A moment later she felt lips press to her forehead, and heard the sound of someone standing. "If I'm still sleeping when you get back, don't you dare wake me."

Hao chuckled, looking back at her from where he now stood at the door. "I make no promises," he stated, before slipping out of the room and closing the door behind him.

She listened for awhile, half expecting him to come back and demand some silly thing of her so he could be sure she really was alright. He'd taken to doing that over the last few days. Honestly, it really didn't suit him, this whole mother hen attitude. Sure, she was grateful that he cared so much and he was capable of showing emotion, but she had to draw the line somewhere. And his asking her to open her mouth and stick out her tongue was certainly one good place to draw it. Honestly, she wasn't a child.... well, her body was pretty much a child... but she herself wasn't. Besides, it was the more aloof Hao that she had been attracted to. It was nice for him to direct some real emotion towards her... but really, not so much that his character completely changed!

Well, it changed when he was in the room with her, anyway. From what she heard from her sister he was even more aloof than he had been before once he left the air shaman's side. Perhaps the change in character was because he was genuinely worried about her well being. Yes... that was probably it, but it still bothered her. Especially since she kept forgetting the promise he had made her. His promise too, made her uneasy. She'd been spurned by him once... left to die by the same disease that was eating away at her now. Even with his promise, she could not help but fear he would do it again. After all... how did she know that he actually meant those words? Everything she knew about him... or thought she knew about him... pointed to his promise being empty words; spoken to bring him closer to an unknown goal. She couldn't think of what he would gain from it though... what goal it would bring him closer to. And when she considered that, she couldn't deny the hope that it caused. There were so many things he had said since she had met him again in this life that she couldn't help but view hopefully. Even so, there was still a voice in the back of her mind, telling her she was setting herself up for heartbreak.

No matter what way she tried to reason, her doubts, and her hopes, remained rather equal in strength. It had gotten to the point where she just didn't want him to be around, because it just confused her further. She had thought about bringing the matter up to him... but in the end she just couldn't do it. Whether he truly cared about her, or he was simply using her... she expected his reaction would be very much the same. She knew that he was very good at manipulating people... that he could make them believe he cared. At the same time, she thought she had known him long enough to be able to see through his manipulative nature.... but she had no way to be sure. She couldn't read his mind. He had it thoroughly blocked to anyone... and even if he had left his thoughts unguarded... she didn't have the energy to probe them.

She had not felt like this since early on in her second life; like she had absolutely no control of her life. No, that wasn't quite right. She hadn't ever felt like this. Yes, she had felt like she had no control before... but this was... different. She didn't _feel_ like she had no control over her life.

This time she_ knew _it.

-- -- -- -- --

Hao lowered himself to sit on the cliff beside Opacho, his eyes scanning for his twin brother. He didn't really care about the fight, even though it involved his followers. To him, the outcome was painfully obvious, he didn't need to watch. Locating Yoh, he watched the younger Asakura view the 'fight' with mild amusement. He couldn't really call it a fight, as it was over as soon as it started. Just as he predicted it would be. He ignored the troubled thoughts of all the other spectators, honing in on his twin. Yoh seemed to sense his gaze, as he looked up to meet it, and the elemental shamen smiled. People were already leaving, but he remained seated.

He could feel anger in the air. The emotion itself was not surprising... but whom it seemed to be directed at was... or half was. This anger, he could tell, was directed at the Asakuras as a whole, not simply himself which he would have understood. Curious he looked away from Yoh at last, scanning for the source of this anger. It was ebbing now, as he sensed Yoh and his companions leave. He wanted to know who had a grudge against the family though, so he extended his mind reading capabilities. What he found was a mind carefully guarded against him, which caused his eyes to widen slightly in surprise.

"Hao-sama?" Opacho asked innocently, instantly taking note of the older shaman's surprised look. The look vanished though, and Hao held up a hand for quiet. Obediently the girl let the matter drop, and remained silent.

The fire shaman turned his gaze towards the guarded mind, and found himself looking at a young blue haired girl he instantly identified as Hikyrrou. Now that was really curious. He couldn't fathom why Hikyrrou would have a sudden hatred towards any Asakura besides himself... it seemed quite out of character for her. He kept a frown from forming as he watched her get to her feet. She clearly knew he was watching her, as she turned towards him... and curiously brought a hand up to touch were she had her hair tied back... almost as if she was checking for something. She kept her eyes on his, but he found it impossible to read them... which was rather frustrating. He could always tell the nature of her thoughts by looking at her eyes. As he kept his gaze locked with hers, she took a half step back, and for a brief moment he thought she was leaving. Until the image of her flickered.

He immediately got to his feet as she phased back into existence behind him and Opacho. He didn't bother to turn towards her when he spoke. "Did you need something?" She was silent, which caused him to cock one eyebrow and slowly turn to look at her. He felt the same anger from before rise a little, before it again faded. Hikyrrou looked tense now, and her eyes were dark with whatever was on her mind. She was nibbling on her bottom lip, and she refused to meet his gaze now. He sighed, and started to turn again, and was about to speak when the anger once more rose. He closed his slightly parted lips and turned his now cold eyes on her. She could be dangerous because of her speed... not really to him as he had for more power and experience to her... but he'd rather not have to force her down.

She had flinched back from the hard look he had given her, but she'd held her ground and met the look daringly. He tried to make her back down with his eyes alone, but she would not break eye contact and back away. "Can we talk?" she asked after a long silence, and she finally looked away from him, though only for a moment. Her eyes flashed to Opacho, and then back to him. He immediately took it as a sign she wanted to speak to him alone.

Frowning now he kept his eyes fixed on hers, while he took in her body language. He was calculating her mood. If he knew anything about the young shaman, it was that she had a temper to match Vex... and a dislike for him that nearly matched the idiotic metal elementalist's. When she finally looked away again, he relented his intimidating gaze. Instead he turned to Opacho, and smiled at the small girl. "Opacho, can you go keep Ammirra company for me?"

"Yes!" the girl exclaimed happily, jumping to her feet and running off.

The fire shaman watched her go for a moment, before he scanned the area quickly with his mind. Everyone was already gone, so there was no need for them to shift locations. Even the Tsuki-gumi had left... though he really didn't remember giving them orders for after they finished the fight. It didn't matter much to him though. He glanced at the blue haired girl who was looking even more tense than she had before. With a sigh he took a seat again, and gestured for her to sit beside him. She looked a little taken aback, but he ignored that, and waited for her to comply to the silent order. After a minute that was probably quite awkward for her, she finally sat down, as far from him as she could without making holding decent conversation difficult. He almost rolled his eyes at the rather childish action, but chose to let it drop for the moment.

"And... what is it that the young elemental wishes to talk me about?" He asked after she remained silent for several minutes more. He didn't want to waste too much time on the probably rather trivial matter she wanted to discuss. He felt her anger flare again... and became keenly aware that it wasn't directed at him at all. This caused him to straighten slightly, and his bored expression was replaced by one more serious.

"It has to do with the Asakuras," the girl began... and Hao had a feeling this was not a trivial matter as he had initially thought. He also had a feeling he was in for a rather long story...

-- -- -- -- --

Opacho made her way quickly through Patch village towards the inn where Ammirra was. She could just see the building ahead of her when she ran into a pair of rather bare legs. She failed to catch herself before falling, and let out a startled oof.

"Opacho, where are you going in such a hurry?"

The child blinked, looking up to see Kanna towering above her, with Mati and Mari standing on either side of the woman. Opacho's eyes had started to water, but she saw no sympathy in Kanna's gaze, which made her bite back the tears. Pushing herself back up to her feet she kept her eyes on Kanna, who was still waiting for an answer. "Opacho was told by Hao-sama to go keep Ammirra-san company," the girl announced simply, and started to step around Kanna. "Opacho has to go now."

The leader of the Hana-gumi's eyes narrowed dangerously. _That brat again! _She stepped back into Opacho's path, causing the child to stop before she collided with the woman's legs again. "Mind if I come with you?" Kanna asked, trying to sound sweet. She really hated this _Ammirra_ for all the attention Hao was giving her. She really didn't see how the brat was special enough to attract Hao's attention like she did. She was only a kid! Barely even starting to develop... and she was full of herself too. She was a coward as far as Kanna was concerned... she hadn't bothered to fight her, but sent another brat at her instead. And she hadn't even seen the little wench since that night she'd appeared at the camp and disappeared with Hao. None of it made sense... and Kanna was fed up with it. She was going to get to the bottom of it... and she was going to get rid of the bloody nuisance.

Opacho looked up at Kanna carefully, and then shook her head. "Opacho doesn't think you should. Opacho doesn't think Ammirra-san likes Kanna very much." With that the child stepped around Kanna again, and rushed off to the inn. She knew that Ammirra was ill, Hao had told her that, and she had visited Ammirra a couple other times too. Hao seemed to want the fact that Ammirra was ill to be kept from the rest of his followers, so Opacho didn't want to stick around and talk to Kanna and the other two anymore, lest they find out.

Kanna watched the child go, barely keeping her frustration from showing on her face. She waited until the girl had disappeared into one of the inns, and then followed after. Mari and Mati looked after her in confusion for a moment, before they moved to catch up to her. They were about to enter the inn themselves when they felt an all too familiar presence behind them.

"Hana-gumi, what are you three doing here?" They turned to see Hao standing behind them, his eyes narrowed rather dangerously. Kanna was sure he must know exactly what she had been thinking of doing, by the look on his face. "You have no business being here. Leave." The fire shaman went on, almost glaring at the three of them. He paid Kanna the most attention, as it was her who seemed to hate Ammirra. The other two were simply following her. Kanna mumbled a 'yes Hao-sama' and retreated with her two teammates. He knew she'd come back eventually though. He might be better off just getting rid of them... but they had their uses.

He would have to have someone watch them. Maybe Hikyrrou.... but then again, he wasn't sure how she would feel about doing anything for him at the moment. It wasn't just for him though, but for her teacher. He'd ask, the next time he saw her. Hopefully that anger of hers wouldn't make her harder to deal with than usual. Sighing again he slipped into the inn and headed immediately for Ammirra's room.

-- -- -- -- --_-- -- -- -- --

Hikyrrou feigned continuing sleep when she was woken by the sound of Sutara getting ready in the morning. She waited until she heard the older shaman leave before opening her eyes to look at the door. Her side was a little stiff... she normally slept on her back, but she couldn't do that so comfortably now. She had to keep her hair tied back with the tie Banira had given her, or her hair would shift to black. She didn't want people questioning her about the different hair color... and she really didn't want anyone to know about it anyway.

Sighing she shifted to a sitting position and stretched her arms above her head. She let out a yawn, before she got to her feet and moved over to the door to lock it. That done she moved to the corner of the room with the water basin, looking at her sleep ruffled appearance in the waters reflection. She grabbed a wooden comb, and then pulled out the tie, letting her long hair fall around her. Even as it did so, the color was shifting to black. She noticed though that there were a few blue streaks left in her hair. It was probably an after effect of whatever it was Banira had done to turn her hair blue in the first place.

She ran her fingers through some of the black strands, still gazing at her reflection. Sighing she proceeded to run the comb through her hair to rid it of any knots, before she gathered it up again, and secured it in its customary ponytail. She frowned as she watched her hair shift back to blue. She was starting to think she looked strange with blue hair... now that she knew it wasn't her natural hair color.

She turned to her pack by her bed, and stripped off the white night shirt she had been wearing. Digging in her bag she pulled out a clean pair of black shorts, and dark blue tank top. It wasn't really something she would normally wear together, to be honest. That was why she picked it out though. Dressing quickly, she grabbed her cloak and pulled it over her shoulders. She didn't bother with foot wear, and simply left the room. She made her way through the inn and quickly towards the front door.

Hao passed her on his way in. He stopped just inside when he realized who it was he had just passed. Turning he watched her leave, a frown on his face. Just what was she doing? She seemed to be in a rush, but he hadn't been able to catch any of her thoughts. She was guarding them too well. This was the second time he hadn't been about to read anything from her. He sighed, and continued on his way to Ammirra's room.

-- -- -- -- --

The dirt was uncomfortably hot under her feet, but she ignored it. Up ahead she could make out two grey blankets, on which Yoh and his companions sat, to watch the fight that was now occurring between Horo's team and some team of siblings. She wasn't really watching the fight. Not only was Horo not participating in it... but she was more interested in glaring at Yoh. He shifted slightly, and she knew he probably felt her glare. She didn't want to be recognized... even if they probably wouldn't be able to from the distance she was from them... so she pulled the hair tie out of her hair and let it fall about her frame again. She was mildly surprised at the length of it. Normally she kept it about mid thigh length, but she had forgotten to cut it for awhile now, it reached past her knees now that she let it down. She probably should keep it shorter, but she had always loved long hair. It had taken a long time to get it mid thigh length. She would have to trim it now though... having hair that reached down passed her knees was a little impractical. Granted she normally kept it up, which reduced the length... but it still reached mid thigh even tied up.

She sighed, running her fingers through her hair again as she turned her attention back to Yoh. He didn't seem to realize she was there... even if he had felt her angered gaze. She glared at him... although she knew it was rather pointless. It wasn't his fault at all. She shouldn't be angry with him, but she really couldn't help it. She wondered why though... as she wasn't angry at Hao and he was an Asakura. Then again... he was sort of apart from the Asakura family now. "Asakura," she hissed. Her jaw was clenched, blue eyes almost grey with hatred. Her hands were clenched at her side, little blue bolts of static crackling around her knuckles.

She was distracted then by the rather explosive ending to the match. Her eyes moved to see what had happened, and found Ren helping one of his young opponents. It seemed he had won. She sighed, turning her eyes back to the spectators. They lingered for a moment on Horo, before moving back to Yoh. When she thought about it she had never really liked Yoh very much. At first it had been because of his resemblance to Hao. Then it was because of his carefree 'everything will work out' attitude. It was kind of annoying really. Nothing would work out if you didn't try to make it work out. He was just too lazy.

She was snapped from her thoughts when she noticed Horo Horo look her way. She mumbled a curse, and quickly turned to leave. Her image hung in the air for a moment, before it disappeared.

The blue haired shaman had spotted her, just before she disappeared. He couldn't figure out who it was from so far away, but he had turned to the others. "Hey guys.... who do you think that is?" he pointed in the direction of the stranger, having not noticed they were gone.

Yoh, Ryu and Chocolov looked in the direction Horo had indicated, but there was no one there "Who do you mean, Horo Horo? No one's there," Chocolov pointed out with a shrug.

Horo blinked, turning his eyes back to the spot. "There was someone there just a moment ago," he defended himself. But the others had already turned to leave. One of them called back at him to hurry up. He stood there for a moment longer, frowning. Finally he turned and followed after the others.

-- -- -- -- --

Stone cold eyes opened slowly and their owner pushed away from the tree they had been leaning against. A pleased grin moved over pale, feminine lips. She pushed herself up to stand by the tree, ignoring the lock of red hair that fell into her eyes. "It's closer," they murmured, looking up through the leaves to the sky beyond. "I will have what I want. The pieces will be in place soon." The smile gave way to a wide grin.

She lowered her head and turned towards another tree. There was one piece that she was missing now, and her original plan to achieve this piece had backfired. It didn't matter though; she always had a back up. "Emor!"

The black haired man slipped from the branches of the tree to stand before the woman. "Yes, Netta-sama?"

Netta smiled at the man, watching him sink down onto his knees and bow his head. "It's about time for you to be rid of your double."

Emor grinned, though he did not raise his head. "Of course, Netta-sama."

Netta stepped forward, reaching down to lift the man's head so she could look into his eyes. "Use those three."

The man looked at her questioningly, before he got her meaning. His grin returned, and he nodded. Getting to his feet, he turned and left the woman standing there. Netta just grinned, and turned back to the tree she had been resting against earlier. Settling herself between the roots once more, she closed her eyes. "You should be more careful who you chose to follow you, Hao" she murmured, before she closed her eyes. "But it's too late for you now. Any of you."

"Oh really?"

* * *

Thanks for Reading. Reviews are always appreciated

**Ja Ne**


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